Finding a Balance
by Little Miss Bones Fanatic
Summary: Based on Young Justice: Invasion, Nightwing has to balance Team work with his job outside of work and his relationship with his best friend, Cadence. RATED T FOR SAFETY AND FUTURE CHAPTERS!
1. 4 Hours Late

**Slack, I know, starting one when the other isn't finished. Alas, the other story is almost done on paper so… what the heck. .On. **

Dick sighed as he stood in the elevator, tired and hungry. Thoughts of tonight's mission with The Team were still running through his head, knowing Tim could have killed himself and Gamma if he hadn't gone by the mission correctly. Getting to his apartment, he saw a little light on in his bedroom, which cast a shadow in the hallway.

"Oh damn." He quickly shut the door and quietly made his way through to the other side of the apartment, where his room was situated, and saw a young woman asleep on the bed, shivering slightly. Seeing a window open, he shut it and put blanket on her while he went for a shower. Coming out in flannelette pyjamas, the woman stared at him, annoyed.

"Where have you been?" she swept her cropped blonde hair out for her face. "You said you would be back in an hour."

Trying to figure a way out of it, he gave a large smile and suavely replied "That _was _a hour." Try adding four to that and you'll get how many hours he was _really _gone for. Seeing this not only fail, but make it worse, he sat beside her. "Cady, I'm sorry." He took her hand.

With a noise of disgust, she pulled her hand away from his and went out to the lounge room/kitchen area. It took a few minutes until he followed out… in his Nightwing costume. She turned around to yell at him, but instead looked at him, dumbstruck.

"Take it off!" she said in a hushed voice. "Someone will see you in it!"

Dick didn't care. "Cadence Bryony Andrews. Born June fifth. Graduate of Gotham Academy on a full scholarship to the University of Gotham, where she is studying teaching. Currently works as an assistant to Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Industries. Has a scar on her arm from a knifing incident as a child. Has been spotted more than once with the notorious Dick Grayson, ward of Bruce Wayne, much to some peoples displeasure. They don't know that she's his best friend."

She was trying to fight a grin, holding in a burst of laughter at what he does to get himself back on her good side. "What day did the said best friends meet?" the question was more a joke than anything else.

"June fifth, 2013. It was the night of a young girl's birthday when Robin stumbled upon her calling for help. She had gotten her hand caught in a car door. Her parents didn't care at all. He got her out and she looked really bad; malnourished, dehydrated. Robin took the girl to Wayne Manor, where Alfred stitched her up and afterwards, Bruce Wayne put her into the Boarding School at Gotham Academy. There she met a young guy called Dick and she hasn't gone back since." He held his hands out for a hug, which she walked into. "I am truly sorry Cady."

"Ok, ok, go take that ridiculous thing off now." She waved him off, stepping away from him. "What do you want for dinner? Are you still on that stupid diet?"

"Anything. I don't want to diet tonight." He called from his closet, coming out yet again in his pyjamas. Sitting at the table, Cadence brought him two toasted sandwiches and a cup of soft drink. "Thanking you." he ate it ravenously.

"You seriously need to get new work hours. I can't be up all hours of the night waiting for you to get back." Her fringe once again slipped onto her face, but she ignored it.

"Go to the Hall of Justice, go to Happy Harbour. You know where my usual Zeta Tube spot is." He pointed at a map that was sitting on the bench.

"I'm not one of them though Dick. I don't want to just sit there and wait for you to maybe come back to the Hall or to the Team's HQ. I want to be at the apartment, with you, watching TV like we used to." she picked up her bag. "I think I'm going to go."

"Cady…" he went to stop her but decided against it. She was going back to the Manor anyway.

()()()()

"He expects me to just wait on him hand and foot, when he says he'll be one hour, he's gone for five, he says 'let's meet up at the Hall, I'll take you out to dinner' then he cancels. I am trying here, but it just isn't working!" Cadence slammed her fist onto the table, causing Alfred to raise an eyebrow.

"Miss Cadence, you do know how taxing Master Dick's extra-curricular activities are. You cannot blame him for going on urgent missions with the team. They need their leader." The elderly British man wasn't defending Dick, but trying to make her see it isn't his fault the world is so bad.

"But he doesn't realise that I need him around too. He's my best friend. If anything was to happen to him…" she tried not to tear up. "Alfred what do I do?"

To be put on the spot like this was a position he had not been put into for quite a while. Nonetheless, Alfred decided to take a seat. "It has come to my attention that you seem to have some increasing worries about the job Master Dick undertakes." She nodded. "Does he know how you feel?"

She looked up at him, eyes wide. "You're kidding me? He'd probably kill me if I did." Alfred's face showed he thought different. "But… what if I tell him and we do start to go out and he… what if something happens?"

"Miss Cadence, if something happens, not only would the Team rally to help him, but Master Bruce himself would too." Alfred stood up again. "Speaking of he, I need to get to the Batcave. Good night Miss Cadence."

"Good night Alfred." Cadence stood up, still questioning herself. What should she do?

**So. Here. Review this bad boy for me and I'll throw in a high five in the next few chapters for you. Deal? Deal. xo **


	2. Broken Promise

**Numberr two! So… things don't go exactly the way they planned. Enjoy!**

Cadence awoke to a loud crunch. Sleepily opening her eyes, she saw a large, dark figure advancing on her.

"Go away Dick." She pulled her covers up over her head. He chuckled vindictively as he lightly jumped onto the bed beside her, causing her to bounce up and down with the springs. "Dick." She drew his name out as she kept under covers.

"Oh sorry, did that disturb your beauty sleep?" he grinned.

"I'll disturb yours soon if you don't go away." She grumbled.

"So, you don't want to come to the Team HQ with me? I just wanted to take you down to the beach."

This got Cadence's attention. "Beach? What beach?"

"The one in Happy Harbour. The Team have their more _private_ beach by the mountain." Dick continued to munch on his apple as she made up her mind.

"Can we get ice cream?"

"Not for breakfast, but sure. I'm on duty is all and I thought… what the hell, let's take Cady with me."

()()()()

"Recognised Nightwing B01." The computer announced his arrival to the HQ.

"I thought someone was bringing their _friend_?" Superboy jeered.

"Hang on, hang on." Dick ran over to the pin pad.

"Recognised Cadence Andrews A10." Cadence then walked in and smirked. "Conner Kent." She gave him a hug.

"Hey Cady. Heard you would be joining the kid for today." He let her go and gave her a good look over; the last time she was here she sliced her hand open with a knife while making lunches for everyone.

"Yeah, was a little bored, it's a Sunday and I just wanted to get ice cream." She looked around. "So what is going on?"

"Movie morning." Conner walked towards a Zeta Tube. "Later."

"Bye!" Cadence watched as he left. "So, this is your solution to me not seeing you? Bringing me along?"

Dick rolled his eyes. "Call it whatever, we are going to the beach." He looked down the hallway. "Get me if there's a call!" he picked up all the gear and went out to the small beach area. "Enjoy." He spread his arms wide. "It's awesome."

"Don't need to tell me that one Dickie boy!" she chucked her summer dress off to reveal a one piece halter neck swimsuit, which was white with rainbow pinstripes. "It's beach time!" she ran into the waves and as soon as she was knee deep, turned around, winked mischievously and fell backwards with a small scream and a splash. Dick pulled out his beach chair and sat in it, reading.

After about half an hour, Cadence came back to see Dick still reading. "I have drinks in the cooler."

"I was under the impression you would be coming in with me."

"What gave you that impression?"

"Dick." She sat on his lap and looked him in the face. "You will be coming out there with me or I will go and drown."

"You won't drown; you're too good of a swimmer." He looked down and saw her being wet was making it look like he had wet his pants. "Thanks for that." He looked down pointedly at the spot.

"No problem." She stood up. "Beach?"

"Coming." He pulled his shirt off and ran into the water after her. "Now it's pay back!" she screamed as he caught her, reeled her in and bear hugged her.

"Let me go!" she half screamed, half yelled.

"No, can't do that Miss Andrews." He jumped backwards into the water before letting her go. Surfacing, he saw her laughing so much she was crying.

"You… are… so… despicable." She tried to breath and talk at the same time to little avail.

"No, no, wrong 'able'. I'm lovable. Not despicable. I can also be 'able' but to you I'm lovable." He swam backstroke around her comfortably. "I'm thinking dinner tonight. It's so quiet I won't back out of it."

She looked over dubiously at him. "Are you sure? Like promise sure?"

He pulled out his pinkie and hooked it onto hers. "I promise that tonight will be the night we have dinner Cady Andrews."

"Ok. I believe you." she stood up and put a hand through her short hair. "So, ice cream?"

He jumped up, picked her up bridal style and walked towards the beach. "It's like you read my mind."

()()()()  
Cadence was in a nice summer dress she could wear anywhere waiting at the front of the restaurant for Dick to come.

"I so knew this was going to happen." She murmured.

"Sorry I'm late." He whispered in her ear, causing her to turn around. He straightened and gave her a cheesy looking grin.

"What?" She was more surprised he was actually at the restaurant.

"Happy Birthday Cadence Bryony Andrews." A bunch of roses and a teddy bear appeared in his arms, causing Cady to be shocked into silence.

"Dick…" she looked as though she wanted to scream with joy. "Thank you." She bypassed the gifts and hugged him. "You came."

"Duh. It's my best friend's birthday, of course I would be the chivalrous man to take her to a fancy place and treat her like a princess." He gave her the bear and took her hand, walking in to take their seats.

During the second course, when Cadence thought she might have a chance to tell him what she has been bottling in, a beep was heard. Dick looked at her blankly before getting his watch to tell him that there was a major robbery.

"Can you not take care of it, Conner?" he muttered. "Really? Well I'm sort of busy."

Fury now riveted through her. He brought his Team watch and his ear piece to the date. Watching him converse basically with himself was one thing, but to now be contemplating on leaving the said date to go and do other things is just a little… disrespectful.

Looking up, he sighed. "Listen…" she put her hand up.

"I'm sick of it Dick. Balance your life out for once." She stood up, threw the teddy bear at him and left. "Don't talk to me again unless you have something to actually talk about without your Team Tech." she stalked off, once again about to cry… but for all the wrong reasons.

()()()()

"I hate him so much!" she screamed, ripping down all the pictures of him in her room. "He doesn't consider me at all anymore!" she threw a framed picture onto the floor and collapsed beside it, crying. "I hate him and his stupid team and the fact he will NEVER notice ME!" she screamed. Bruce and Alfred watched on, a little freaked out over the whole ordeal. "OW!" she yelled, her hand now streaming with blood. Bruce quickly knelt down to assess the damage before taking her out to the office, where one of the many first aid kits is hidden. "Why, Bruce? Why me?" she cried.

**Ohhh hell no. On her birthday? Shame on you Dick Grayson! (Sorry if it's a bit OTT on her part, but… she's in love with her bestie, come on) xo **


	3. Poetry of Hate and love

**Hehehe. I was bad enough to start this one STRAIGHT after I posted the first. HI FIVE TO Shikaku Ryoko and LiveLoveMusic20! I DON'T OWN A SINGLE THING… other than Miss Cadence Bryony Andrews. **

Purposefully, Dick Grayson walked into Wayne Industries with a new suit on and a briefcase in his hand. Signing in, he went straight up to Bruce's office, in the penthouse and burst into the room.

"… Also you need to see Clark Kent, he's been wanting to talk to you about some meeting in Star City." Cadence turned around, frowned and walked out. "If you need anything, I'll be in my office Mr Wayne." He noticed a bandage on her hand as she walked out haughtily.

"Thank you Cadence." Bruce gave him a sardonic look as he took a seat. "Dick, you need to improve on your ways with a lady."

Dick made a noise of agreement. "Can you train me in that?"

That made Bruce chuckle. "You wouldn't want me to train you in the art of a lady's way, let me tell you that now." Dick looked up at him questionably. "Anyway. Today you'll be working with Lucius Fox. He's on the floor below this one. Do not question him. Do not argue with him. Go."

Dick went to ask his mentor a question, but once he was dismissed, he sort of had to leave.

It was lunch time, Cadence had left without him and Lucius Fox had already given him four books to look up. Walking along to a small deli, Dick spots Cadence and decides to say hello. Slipping in, she was just paying for her lunch when she looked up to see him.

"Hi Cady!" He smiled.

"Bye Dick." She also gave a frosty grin as she kept walking.

"Do you think we could have dinner at mine tonight?"

"I don't know. Do you have to go prance around in tights?" the deli owner looked at Dick precariously as she walked out of the shop.

"She didn't mean that." Dick grabbed his sandwich and ran after her. Catching her, he started to eat. "You know… that was… a little… mean."

"Boo hoo Dick." She kept walking resolutely towards the park.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he tried stopping her to no result. "Cadence?" He pulled her into a quiet alleyway to talk to her. "What did I do?"

She turned around. "Listen, you really need to get your life into check. Just as I said last week. It's as if your life as 'you know who' seems to take precedence over those who love you."

"Uh…" Dick had no idea where it was coming from, but he was going to take it like a man.

"It's because you live like that, I'm acting like this." She took a breath. "I can live with missed calls. I can live with the occasional Team meeting. I can live with major events. But constantly setting up dinners and dates and just backing up on them…My birthday date made it the last straw. Did you know it makes me feel like you don't want to see me?"

Dick's face went blank. "Of course I want to see you, Cady. It's you!"

"You getting into your uniform and relaying everything you know about me won't work anymore Dick." She started to cry. "I spoke to Alfred the week before last, about when you came in fours later than what you said and he's like 'tell him whatever.' Basically."

"Is this whatever? Basically?" Cadence Andrews never cried. Ever.

"No. But have you ever seen the movie _Ten Things I Hate About You_?" he shook his head.

"Good." She walked off. "You obviously forgot about our movie night last week."

"What?" Dick looked at her confusedly.

()()()()

Getting home after a hard day of being ignored, Dick saw a note on his door.

I hate the way know me.  
And the way you're up for a dare.  
I hate the way can't always see.  
I hate it when you stare.  
I hate your stupid uniform.  
And the way you always train  
And the way you're always warm.  
It even makes feel so crazy, I feel insane.  
I hate the way you're so smart.  
I hate it that I know why lie.  
I hate the way you break my heart.  
Even worse when you make me cry.  
I hate it that you're never around,  
And the fact that you never, ever call.  
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you,  
Not even close,  
Not even a little bit,  
Not even at all.

Re-reading the poem over and over, he searched it on the internet and saw that she had edited it.

"Cady…" he got changed and drove up to the manor. Getting to the main floor, Alfred watched him dash up the stairs to Cadence's pink room. "Cade. Cade, it's Dick."

"Go away."

"No."

"I gave you that so you wouldn't come near me."

"That's a big fat lie and we both know it."

"Don't make me counter your beautiful poem."

"You couldn't."

He sighed. "Oh but I can."

I love the way you don't care  
And that you notice that I stare  
I love the way you smiled at me  
I'm so sorry I could never see  
I love your individuality  
Because I know it's you in reality.  
I love your resilience  
Even though sometime you don't make sense  
I love how you do your hair  
And that you always give me a dare  
But the one thing I love the most  
Is not that you eat buttered toast  
is that you loved me, for me  
Nightwing and all  
And this I now know is key.

There was silence. A very long silence. "That… that was impressive."

He wondered if she had said that to herself or to him but it didn't matter, because a moment later, the click of a lock being unlocked was heard.

Dick put a hand on the knob of the door handle and hoped in all the world he didn't stuff this up.


	4. Hurt

**I am on a roll Baybay! (coughs) sorry about that. So, uh, a month after the pretty poetry we heard (go Dick, go Dick) I am going for a different angle. What doesn't the Team know? Well, for one thing, they don't know Dick. **

**4 Weeks Later**

Conner and Bumblebee stood at the driveway of a massive Manor.

"Can we help you?" an English gentleman's voice asked.

"Yeah… Does Dick still live here?" Conner asked the little speaker.

"No, Master Dick doesn't. He lives in Gotham itself now."

"Uh… is Cadence there?" Bumblebee smiled.

There was a pause. "No, she isn't. At the present time, she too is in Gotham."

Cadence took a deep breath as she awoke, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her protectively. Rolling over to see the owner of those arms, Dick was sleeping with his mouth a little open and his hair everywhere. No domino mask. No outfit. It was just him in his tank top and flannel pyjamas in all their glory. Seeing the bloody bandages on his arms, she made a mental note to go to the Pharmacy and get new ones, along with stitching material. Then, there was a knock. Putting her head on his shoulder, it was evident the mail wasn't coming at 6.30am.

"Dick." She shook him as she got up, her slacks a little big and the shirt even bigger, with it being his Gotham City Academy track shirt. "Wake up."

"Wha?" he looked around bleary eyed. "Is it time to get up? When do you go work?" he mumbled the questions as he looked at the clock. "Ahh! Cady come back it's only six thirty."

The knock was heard again as Cadence stood at the door. "Who is it?"

"Conner and Bee."

"What do you want? You do realise that Dick can't come in? He hasn't been cleared by Manhunter or by Bruce."

"We know. But it's urgent."

Sniffing indifferently, Cadence lets them in against her better judgement. "What?"

"We wanted to know how he was." Bee looked around in an attempt to see whether Dick would jump out at them.

"Those hits he took last week were really bad." Conner added.

()()()()

_One Week Ago_

_Looking over notes for Bruce, Cadence knew Dick wouldn't mind if she stole some of his coffee. It was 8am, he was on night duty and she wasn't particularly stuffed to make her way back up to the Manor for the night, so she stayed here. _

_After their fight, things were on the mend for them both. Dick was still being a superhero, which was fine, but he was actually trying to balance his life with work, secret work and play. It was an ever changing timetable however, sometimes with him sounding so tired on the phone sometimes she actually Zeta Tubes to the Hall or to HQ and checks on him personally, much to his dismay. _

"_I don't need you babying me Cady."_

"_I'm not babying Dick; I'm being a best friend." She would reply. _

_Hearing the phone ring, it wasn't unusual for her to answer it for him. "Grayson residence, this is Cadence speaking."_

"_Cadence, its Bruce." _

_Bruce Wayne never used a phone of all things. Video calling was the now for him. "Yes?" _

"_We need you to come to the Watchtower." _

_Almost choking on her spit, she took a breath. Watchtower was the huge honcho in the sky that watched everything and everyone, including her. Not just anybody is allowed up there. "But… I'm not that super." _

"_It's about Tim, Cady." He never called her that. Ever. _

"_Which tube?" _

"_The one down stairs. Say Cadence Andrews A10 emergency and you'll come straight up." Hanging up, she knew it was bad as she got ready. _

_Running down stairs and Zeta Tubing to the Watchtower, she was met by Green Arrow and Black Canary, who tried to stop her as she powered up to Batman. "What?" _

_Following the man with the other two guards that tried stopping her, they made their way through the Tower until they came to the Medical Bay. There lay Dick, in a lot of pain, but awake. _

"_What happened?" she asked quickly._

"_Apokoliptik technology was reported missing. Dick, Superboy, Bee and Batgirl all went to stop them. Dick went missing, came back but got whiplashed. He had found some young children and had taken them to safety. They should heal, but they will take a while." Black Canary explained. _

"_Can I go in?" _

"_That's why he's still awake. He refused to go to sleep until he saw you." Green Arrow opened the door for her, letting her in. _

_Sitting in the chair beside him, Cadence took his hand. "You're an idiot."_

"_Says you." Dick gave a painful grimace. "Tomorrow I'm going home. Need someone to stay with."_

"_I'll come to your apartment. Then we won't be bothered by your mentor." She looked up at Bruce, who held his glare and folded arms. "But, for the time being, sleep."_

"_I'm too scared." _

"_Of what? The Boogie Monster?"_

"_I'm too scared that I won't wake up." He looked at her. "Tell me I'll wake up."_

_She squeezed his hand. "When you wake up, you will be at home, with me." _

"_You positive?"_

"_As positive as you were when you saved me." She kissed his forehead. "Go to sleep Dick."_

()()()()

"I know he did. They need addressing every day."

"Is he awake?" Conner asked attentively.

"Go check, down the hall, door straight ahead." She told him. "If he's asleep, don't wake him. He woke up twice last night."

After a minute, Conner came back. "Dead to the world. But thanks. Tell him to come by later." He gave her a hug. "Thanks for looking after him."

Bee smiled and gave her a hug too. "Yeah, thanks."

"What are best friend's for?" she waited for them to be down the hall as she shut the door. "Dick, I'm coming back to bed, it's too early for all this." Sliding back into bed, she heard him chuckle unappreciatively. "What?"

"Your feet are cold."

"So are yours, but at least I don't say anything about it."

**Poor Dickie Bird at least they made up sorta. Had you going at the start didn't I? Didn't I? Soon. I'll tell you that. xo **


	5. A Boys Talk

**Now it's time for Dick to talk to the only guy he can about this…. He thinks. **

Getting to Happy Harbour, Dick pulled up at the entrance to the Team's HQ and waited to be let in. Getting in, he walked up to Conner's room and locked the door. Conner was still asleep, obvious from the shut curtains and the snoring.

"Con, get up." Dick started throwing things at him. "Conner." He threw a lead box onto the bed, which scared the daylights out of him.

"Hey, hey, no kryptonite." He sat up. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

"About?"

"Cadence."

There was a moan. "Can we not? I hate talking about girls. The last girlfriend I had dumped me for a fish."

"But this one I think could be the one man."

Conner sat up bolt straight and looked at him through the darkness. "You're drunk, or crazy, or Megan has something to you."

"No, I'm not."

"Listen, you're eighteen. You've barely graduated school. She's your best friend. See where I'm going with this?"

"That I'm not thinking rationally?"

"Yeah. That word." He slumped back into bed. "The end."

"No, no, not the end." Dick threw a basketball at him now. "I am. She is perfect for me. There's no strings. She knows about me, my life. We can relate easily because we don't have parents. We both went to school together. We're going to Uni together."

"And? So what, you're doing everything together. She's your best friend. Are you willing to lose that over a relationship that could end?" This stopped him. He _was _being irrational. He was being rather narrow minded over the whole thing. He never even thought of that. "See?"

"But… she likes me." He confided in him. "We had a huge conversation during that week I couldn't do a thing. She explained it all. Why she had been acting the way she had. In a sense, I could see why. Try getting my attention when I'm figuring out my work and the Team work. It would be hard."

Conner chuckled. "Well haven't you gotten yourself into a little bit of a jam."

"This is where you swing in to rescue me from the said jam."

"Well what? I've given you my words of wisdom for the day."

"Conner…" he was about to get onto his knees when Conner sat up again and turned a light on.

"Kid, listen. I knew Cadence liked you because she was here one late night last week. I promised I wouldn't tell you but you seriously are bugging me. There will be a moment. That moment may be soon or it could be later, when you figure out whether or not you're right for each other. Then, and only then, you can say 'she's perfect for me'. In reality, no one is perfect. Not even me, the epitome of perfection." He winked.

"So… I have to wait?"

"Yeah. As long as it takes."

Dick nodded. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now, can you take that lead box away? I don't wanna die this morning." He chucked the box back at Dick who caught it and put it in his pocket. "Later."

"See you." Dick left. "Why is this so hard?" he asked himself helplessly as he walked back up to his car. "Right, because this is Cadence and nothing with Cadence is easy."


	6. Are You Sure

**So. Hi Fives to Apples Who Dance With Oranges! The show must go on however, so I was just like… what about some future things? Maybe later. This is like… a month after the talk with Conner. Anything you want to see? Write it in your review, I'm open! **

Dick was driving along innocently the main street of Gotham, sunnies on and the radio blaring… with Cadence singing along. They had just finished work

"Is that needed?" Dick asked, stopping at a red light.

"Sure it is! Come on, it's a good song." She started to sway with the beat of the music while singing.

Seeing the light turn green Dick went to drive off when there was a sickly crash. A car had run a red light and went straight into Cadence's side of the car. Hearing screams, then silence, Dick knew that she wasn't ok.

"Cady?" he felt blood dribbling down his head and out of his mouth. "Cadence!" he unbuckled his seatbelt and saw her sitting there, eyes shut and pale. "No." he felt for a pulse, which was very weak. "Hey, come on, start singing again."

()()()()

Cadence then awoke in an unfamiliar bed. The other side of it was disturbed, but empty. The last thing she remembered was a loud bang.

"Cady?" a hand held hers. Looking over, she saw Dick smiling at her. He was propped up on the bed with pillows, stitches on his head. "You're awake, finally."

"How long?"

"Almost a week. You gave me the scare of a lifetime."

"Something's wrong." Cadence felt sickly and lethargic. "Dick, something's wrong."

He frowned, unsure of what to do. "What feels wrong?"

"Like… my chest is going to explode." She started to shake violently. "Don't let me die Dick!" she told him. "Don't let me die!"

"I…" he got his phone out and called for help, but it was too late. Cadence could feel herself slipping away.

"I love you." She whispered, tears rolling softly down her face. It was slowly, but surely, the world started to go dark.

()()()()

"Cadence, can you hear me? You are not going to die." a light drifted over both of her eyes. "Pupils are reactive. She's just a bit tired." A deep voice explained. "Cadence, you will not die."

"What?"

"Cady!" a few voices said together.

"Squeeze my hands." Two cool hands were put into hers as she squeezed them tightly. "Ok, good. Just don't move your legs, whatever you do." She tried and made a noise of pain. Both felt like lead weights. "I told you not to."

Opening her eyes, Dick, Bruce, Conner, Bee, Megan, John Jones and Dinah surrounded her. It was John Jones who was doing the little motor skills tests. Looking down, she saw both of her legs in casts. "Oh hell no." her eyes widened.

"Sorry, but both of your legs were broken." Canary held up some Fiberglass tape. "Pick your colours."

"Hot pink and purple." She looked around. Everyone was just looking at her. "What?"

"You had a very bad nightmare." Dick explained. "Can everyone leave? Except for Canary." They all shuffled out and went to the Galley. As Canary started on the tape, Dick sat beside her. "So… you love someone so much you don't want to leave them huh?"

"It was strange. It felt so real." he nodded, wanting her to continue. "You weren't doing anything. I was dying and all you could do was call for help. I was dying Dick."

"So you were saying I love you to me?" He looked at her funnily. She paused, unsure whether to answer that or not. "It's ok. I love you too."

She was now looking up at him, while searching for something to hit him over the head with. "What?"

He laughed. "The way I see it, I almost lost the one person who knows me. Who feeds me. Who understands me. You're my ying to my yang."

"No more corny stuff, please, I'll die of it." She smirked.

"I love you, Cadence."

"Are you sure?"

"As sure as the day I saved you."

She sighed. "I so don't believe this is happening." She saw Canary smiling. "Megan? You better not be recording this."

A shimmer then opened and shut the door. "Busted." Dick frowned as she hit him. "What? I wanted proof unless you forgot."

"Yes, I just busted that." she saw Canary leave, her legs now done. "So… what were you saying?"

()()()()

Bruce coming to the apartment for dinner was one thing. Bruce and Tim coming in and watching the TV with Dick was another.

Cadence was in a wheel chair, but at the moment, she was on the bed asleep. Pillows under her legs, cups of water sitting beside the bed, she was sleeping gently when Dick came in.

"Cade, come on, Bruce and Tim are here." He lifted her close to his chest before placing her in her wheelchair and taking her out to the lounge room.

Dinner officially woke her up; Pizza and garlic bread thanks to Bruce.

"You're off work until further notice. Every morning you'll go to the Team's HQ and have physical therapy with Dinah, who has gladly put her hand up to help." Bruce explained. "The mornings Dick isn't here, I'll send one of the team to come and get you."

"Thanks."

"Now… are you sure you want to move into the apartment?"

They all looked at each other, besides Tim, who kept eating. "Can I still keep my room in the Manor?"

"I still have mine." Dick smiled.

"Of course Cadence. Your room is your room. I wouldn't give it up." Bruce gave his version of a smile, a twitch of the lip, before standing up. "Tim, we need to go now. I'm sure Cadence is still very tired from the whole ordeal."

"Coming." Tim pulled a pen out. "Can I?"

Cadence yawned, but nodded. He drew 'Tim Loves Cady' with a large black heart before he ran off, so Dick wouldn't catch him and punish him for crushing on his best friend.

Then there was silence.

"Ice Cream?"

"Please."

**Naw. Cute as. Say what your favourite ice cream is in your review and maybe, just maybe, a character will eat it =3 so, keep your eyes peeled! xo LMBF **


	7. That Last Time

**So. Um. I'm about to throw in a game changer. xo You've been warned. **

Awakening to an almighty bang, Dick realised someone was knocking on the door very loudly. What was it with people coming to the apartment at crazy times of the morning? Who knows, but all he knows is that it was getting annoying. Opening the door, Tim stood with two large bags surrounding him.

"What are you doing here?" Dick wiped the sleep out of his eyes.

"Bruce is going out of town and he's letting Alfred go home for two weeks. I need to stay here for a week. Apparently you got a message about it last week?" Tim started to pull the bags in.

Cadence must have heard them talking, because she was now leaning against the doorway to Dick's room, in his soft bathrobe, squinting to see who it is. It was starting to get a little fresher now that autumn had hit Gotham and according to the weather man, an early winter was going to hit. Coming out and giving the robe to him.

"I knew he was coming. Tell him where the cereal is and I'll be out in a minute." She walked back to the room.

Dick helped Tim into the second room and saw it was a school day. "Be ready at 7.30 sharp so she can take you to school. I need to be at work by eight and Cadence has her last physio meeting today at the Hall."

"Ok, ok." Tim put the bag on the bed. "Will I still be training?"

"Yeah, at the HQ gym." Dick brought him back out to the kitchen. "Cereal is in the top cupboard. Milk is in the left side of the fridge. Bowls are around. You'll find them." He walked back to his room and saw Cadence doing her hair. "Well, hello, hello Miss." He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Have we met?" he looked at the mirror, seeing a bruise from a mission he went to last night.

"Dick." She looked at him in the mirror.

"What?"

"You promised."

He let go and gave her a mocking frown. "Fine, fine."

"I ironed a suit for you last night." she pulled her hair up. "Now, your notes are here, the office and on the bench. Pick them all up because I won't anymore." She walked out and saw Tim watching TV as he ate breakfast. "Alrighty, kid, you have T-Minus half an hour to cram before I take you anywhere."

Tim looked up at her incredulously. "I don't cram. I'm a straight A student."

Turning around on her heel and bee-lining for coffee, she murmured "Well doesn't that sound familiar?" leaning on the bench, Dick came out, tie undone. "Here." She held her hands out to do his tie. Finishing, she gives him a coffee and a piece of toast before going into the office.

"Did he tell you he gets straight As?" Dick laughed as she walked off.

Ignoring the jibe, she stuck her head back out. "Hey let's head, there's a crash on the main street, so I'll have to go the long way to get to the Academy."

()()()()

Dick pulled up at the Academy just as the school bell rang, Cadence in the car with him. Today was shopping day and day three of Tim's visit. Waiting, he saw some kids running away laughing, then he saw Tim with a bloody nose.

"Whoa. Cade, get the tissues out of the middle compartment." He got out of the car and quickly walked up to him. "Tim, what happened?"

"Some kids beat me up." He bowed his head. "Like five of them."

Bringing him to the car, Cadence sat in the back with Tim so she could keep handing tissues to him. "Has this happened before?"

"No."

"I just need to check if it's broken." Cadence pinched the bridge of his nose and heard a resounding growl of pain. "Possibly. You should be fine though."

"Thanks."

After shopping, during which Dick kept Tim closely to his side and Cadence shopped, they got home and Dick tended to his little brother's nose. Cadence made dinner and afterwards, pulled out Rainbow Sherbet ice cream, Tim's favourite.

"Don't ever let anyone beat you down." She told Tim while Dick was making business calls. "I did once and Dick went wild."

"What happened?"

"Let's just say a black eye and some hair pulling was enough for Bruce to enter the school grounds and for Dick to have a scream at a few people." Tim just looked at her. "No joke."

()()()()

Sitting at the Computer with Mal, Dick was watching on as each member of the team were split up and sent on missions.

"Cadence Andrews A10." Cadence entered the HQ and ran up to him

"Guess what?"

"How did you get here?"

"Guess what?"

"How did you get here?"

"Batman buzzed me in with an override." She folded her arms. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I got accepted to go to UCLA!" she bounced up and down excitedly.

He was silent until Mal nudged him. "Whoa. UCLA? I thought you were going to Gotham?"

"They offered me a full scholarship and I get to stay there for a post graduate spot to help as a mentor!" she grinned. "Bru… Batman is fully supporting me. He says I should get out of Gotham to save my sanity."

Dick frowned. She had never told him about UCLA. They were meant to be going to Gotham together. "But…"

"I know this is out of the blue but I have to go down ASAP. They just got me the last bed down there and I have 72 hours to get down there. Batman has already said I'm taking the private jet. I just thought I'd come in and say good bye."

"What about Rob?"

"Batman is back. This morning. That's what he was doing away for a week. Helping me." Dick went silent again, figuring out what to say. "Listen, I have to go. I'll call later, ok?"

He just nodded as she hugged him. "See you around." He murmured.

"I know you will." She laughed before running off. That would be the last time Dick would see her as a teenager.

**Ahahaha. No. I'm not joking. She's leaving. To go to LA. Well… looks like Dick won't have to balance out his life much longer… lol jks it's Cadence, of course he'll be the knight in shining armour o.o REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW kids!**


	8. Coming Home

**So. Um. End of Dick and Cadence? Nah. Have a nice day/night wherever you may be!**

Cadence was watching an old news feed on the internet surrounding the Alien Invasion. At 20, she knew stuff like this (crazy, absurd, possibly even insane beings) existed. Switching it off, as it was only yesterday's news, she saw someone leaning against the door way.

"Heard you wanted to say hi?" a voice smiled at her.

"Hey big guy!" she stood up and hugged him. Looking up at him in the dim light of the hallway light, Conner Kent was grinning as he shut the door. "What are you even doing here?"

"I heard it was someone's birthday soon. Maybe she wanted to see someone from around."

"Maybe. Doesn't mean you needed to sneak in to ask me."

"I used the front door, come on…" Conner paused. "You do realise he has been asking about you?"

"Well we all know that's all he wants to do. See me, on my birthday." After three years, Cadence had grown a little, had one more year on her degree and had grown her hair out again. "He's ignored me for this long; whatever would he want to see me for now?"

Conner took a seat on her desk. "Something about no girl is like you." he shrugged. "I just pretend to listen."

"He'll just have to get over me."

"He won't. I've tried taking him out on the town… Star City and Metropolis included. But… he just won't get hooked."

Moaning out of annoyance, Cadence picked up a photo frame to see two laughing teenagers in school uniform. "Dick and Cady, the unstoppable best friends." She put it down. "He wouldn't answer my calls, my emails, anything. What makes you think…" she left the last question unfinished.

"Because every night he writes in this stupid journal thing which starts off with 'Dear Cady' and ends with, 'maybe tomorrow you'll pop in'." He jumped up. "So… yeah. It's been nearly three years and he still hasn't gotten over you."

"Is this just you trying to persuade me to come back Conner? Because it sure feels like it."

"No. This is me trying to tell you that the Gotham City summer is better than LA's. Come home for the holidays Cady. For the sanity of Dick, please just come visit." He stood up. "Gotta go."

()()()()

Dick looked around. "Where is Superboy?"

Mal had strict orders to be as ambiguous as possible. "He went out of town."

"But… isn't he on today?"

"No. Miss Martian is on this weekend."

"How far out of town?"

"He didn't tell me that." Mal knew that Dick could probably break him soon.

"You sure?" Dick looked at him, analysing him like a piece of evidence.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Dick walked towards the computer. "That's fine." He pressed a few buttons to see Conner's location running from the Western coast. "But what was on the coast?" Mal tried to slink off but Dick shut the doors. "Mal, what is on the coast for Conner?"

"Sunshine?"

Sighing, he tapped a few more keys and saw him continuing to jump along. "Right. Sunshine." He gave up and went into the kitchen, leaving Mal to breathe a little.

()()()()

At Gotham International Airport, Bruce Wayne stood waiting at the tunnel patiently. He had successfully managed to hide from the paparazzi by taking a taxi. Yep, a taxi.

"Bruce!" Cadence beamed and gave a small wave, causing him to follow her to where she was free to go.

"Hello Cadence." He picked her luggage up for and gave her a bottle of water. "Thought you would be thirsty, I know you don't like plane water."

"Thanks." She drank it as they walked along. "So is my room at the Manor still good?"

"I got it repainted last month because there was an… incident." They shared a knowing look. "Knives aren't the best weapon of choice."

"Agreed."

Getting back to the Manor, Cady went down to the cave and smiled. Now she was home. Seeing that the Tumbler had been out and about the night before, crime in Gotham was apparently still high. Turning back around, Alfred stood with a hanging clothes bag and a box.

"What's this Alfred?" She raced up the stairs to meet him.

"Master Bruce has an evening party tonight to which you will be with him as his… 'date' per se. You have a dress in here, shoes in here and jewellery in the box on your desk." He handed them to her. "You have two hours."

()()()()

Bruce stood at the top of the staircase, awaiting Cadence's arrival from her room. Seeing her walk out awkwardly in a black floor length dress, which was simple and strapless, he saw that she cut all her hair off, again.

"Good thing I called Rafael in Master Bruce. She would have made a terrible mess in her bathroom." Alfred murmured.

The last time she cut it all off was when she first came to the Manor. She just came up to Alfred and went 'I want it all off. Now.'

"I suck in high heels." She murmured.

"Its fine, you can sit down in ten minutes." Bruce held his arm out for her to take, which she did and they walked down the stairs slowly.

"Welcome your host, Bruce Wayne and his esteemed hostess for tonight, Cadence Andrews." Alfred announced them to a light round of applause. Looking around, she saw the Team all standing around a table, waiting.

"I will be in my study. If anyone needs anything, please find Alfred, he would love to help you." Bruce patted her arm once before leaving.

Grabbing the microphone, Cadence smiled at Conner, who looked pointedly at the empty seat at the other end of the long table.

"Welcome. I only got back two hours ago, I got a new dress, new jewellery, new shoes and a new hair cut all thanks the Bruce, who wants me back here as much as you guys have. I love that you have all… well most of you have kept in contact. So, let's eat!" she sat down with Conner on her right and Megan on her left.

"I wonder where Dick is?" she murmured, lips pursed as everyone was served.

Before they knew what was going on, there was an explosion outside. "Everyone stay calm!" Conner stood up, taking Jaime and Megan with him. Bruce came down to see Cadence running after them.

"Cadence come back!" He yelled, bracing himself as another explosion hit outside.

()()()()

"She doesn't want me." Dick sat looking at the two holes in the yard, contemplating where to put the third. It wasn't that he was blowing up the yard, Bruce would fix that… it's just that no one knew he liked to have a drink. A lot.

"Dick, what are you doing?" Conner came out and saw the craters.

"Trying some new stuff out Con! Isn't it awesome?" he smiled happily with himself.

"You were meant to come to the dinner." He replied, ignoring his friend's questions.

"Oh my gosh." Cadence stood behind Jaime. "Dick?"

He looked up and frowned. "What are you doing here?"

Bruce then snuck up on Dick and put a napkin over his face. "This is for the Team."

**So. OMG. Hahaha reviews please darlings o.o ma friends are getting into the spirit too hahaha. Strawberry Ice Cream will feature in the next chapter**


	9. Handcuffs and Uniforms

Hearing the sound of a TV, Dick opened his eyes, saw he was in a bed and instantly knew he had done something bad. It had nothing to do with the fact he was handcuffed to the bed, or that a bag with the name 'Cadence Andrews' embroidered on the side sat in his view, it was more the fact there was an alarm on his usually unalarmed bedroom door and he had a headache from the night before.

Seeing that he could in no way get out of these cuffs, he started to call. Cue Cadence. Her face entered with a frown, her arms tightly wound around each other as the crossed over her chest, he knew now that there was trouble and he was in it.

"You live up to your nickname sometimes, Richard, and yesterday was one of them." Her voice radiated angriness. "What in the world possessed you to blow up half of the back yard?" Dick sat there silently as she continued. "Where did you get the alcohol from? I changed the locks last night so there is no way in the world you would be able to touch it. Oh… and it's empty. Bruce decided he liked it more than you." There was still silence. "How did it get this bad?"

"You weren't here reminding me to keep my life in check. I say that I loved you and you just… _leave_. It made me feel so… insignificant. I thought… I thought you wanted us to be together?" he tried to prop himself up but still found it hard… you know, being handcuffed and all.

"I was asked to leave. You apparently did not need someone like me messing up your life as a superhero. Take a wild guess to who that might be." Dick realised Bruce had sent her away. "He wanted me to get an education but not get hurt doing it. If they found out Dick…. They would hurt me to get to you."

Dick looked away. "So… you didn't want to leave?"

"No. You had a promise to keep. Do you remember that?" she pulled out the keys and dangled them tantalisingly at his face.

"It's void now."

"Whoever said I still didn't like you?" she unlocked him.

"Not me." He pushed her onto her back and looked at her from above. "So… dinner?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." She slinked out from under him and stood up. "Chinese?"

"Who eats Chinese? I was thinking pizza." He walked past her out to the kitchen.

"We need strawberry ice cream!" she followed him out.

()()()()

Dick had Cadence in his arms, asleep, a few nights after his drunken exploits at Wayne Manor. She hadn't forgiven him and certainly was quite wary of him but the way he looked at it, he was lucky to even have her back in Gotham. She was deciding whether or not to continue her studies in Gotham, as LA had become party central and Cadence wasn't usually the centre of attention.

"What time is it?" she asked as he placed her into bed.

"Almost eleven." He slid into bed next to her.

"It's cold." She got closer to him.

"Do you want another blanket?"

"You'll do." She grabbed his hand and held it. "Your hands are warm."

"Now I'm wondering who has been drinking." He poked her back.

"Ow, don't." She now wriggled away from him.

"What? You don't like being poked do you?" he kept poking her.

"Don't, Dick, don't!" she rolled off the side of the bed and landed on all fours.

"Whoa. You have some reflexes." Dick sat up and saw she had disappeared. "Say what?"

She then crept up behind him and put him in a head lock. "I've changed oh so much since you last saw me Dick."

He then flipped her playfully. "This is different. Since when?"

"Medial training by Black Canary and Bruce. Just so I could protect myself." She put both of her feet together and pushed him away.

"That so isn't Medial."

()()()()

Bruce glared at Dick, who looked at his team hopelessly. They were mucking around when in reality, they were meant to be training.

"Nightwing. Get your team together. Something is coming and we need the Team to be able to operate at its top level. If you cannot be able to do this, I will get Superboy to take over until you can."

"I can Batman."

"Let's hope so." Walking off he called someone. "You seem to like messing things up." He heard a reply. "No, no, don't worry about it. Go out tonight, we're running an exercise. Ok then."

It was sooner rather than later that Dick came back and saw an electronic time table on the computer.

"Love Shadow." Was written on a sticky note.

"Shadow?" Dick looked around and saw a woman in a black suit. "Shadow."

"Dick. I'm burning this uniform. It costed a lot and it was from Bruce but… I don't need this. I used it in LA. But… I am not you." she skirted into the shadows and came out in plain clothes. "I saw what you did. Why you do it. How you do it. I don't know. I don't care. I've had my fun. I know my place. I want to be with you, not be you."

He looked at her confusedly. "You were a superhero?"

"For two years." She flicked a lighter out of her pocket. "And it sucks." She lit it up and threw it into a metal trash can.

"You never said."

"So my moves didn't give it away huh?" She pushed numbers on a key pad. "Come with me." She held her hand out. "Bruce won't care."

"Yes, he will."

"Says who?" she saw him slowly coming towards him.

"Me." He stopped just before her hand. "But… Conner is on now so…" he paused. "Sorry." He ran into the Zeta Tube.

"Recognised, Nightwing B01." He left without her.

"Computer, co-ords for Nightwing B01." Cadence walked up to see Mal coming out with food.

"Gotham City."

Sighing, she Zeta Tubed back so she could walk to the apartment. Yep, she knew life was going to be the same.

**Pretty please review. Tell me how to be better and if you want any story lines or ice cream involved! LMBF xo **


	10. Like the Shadows, I'm Gone

It took Conner about a week to tell the story of how this note Dick was currently looking at came into being. He didn't say who Shadow was, of course, but now he knew the full story, he could fill in the gaps.

()()()()

_Sitting upon a roof, Shadow simply sighed. It was all she could do. The Team had once again come in to try and do her work and it was quite annoying. _

_Slinking down into the shadows, she leaned against the corner of a building when Bumblebee was knocked out of the way by a large man. Jumping into action, she kicked him between the legs, got a pair of handcuffs out and attached him to a light pole. _

"_You ok?" Shadow pulled Bee up. _

"_Yeah. Thanks. Are you new around here?" _

"_Sort of." She started to move away, as more of them turned up. _

"_Nice kick. Who are you?" Nightwing smiled at her, admiring her technique._

"_Shadow." She continued to back up. _

"_You live here?" he asked interestedly._

"_Yeah." _

"_What is that smell?" Of course, let's make it worse that she stupidly wore the same perfume that her best friend gave her for her birthday a few years back. _

"_There's a park just over there with lots of flowers in it." _

"_How long have you been a hero?" Conner looked at her._

"_Since last year. Some stuff just made me the way I am." She continued to back up. "And like shadows in the dark, I'm gone." She stepped into the shadows and climbed up a wall._

"_Whoa!" Conner grinned as everyone looked around, amazed. _

"_Why did she remind me of someone?" Nightwing asked questioningly. _

_"Because you're whipped?" Robin replied, causing snorts of laughter._

_()()()()_

_Sitting in her room, Cadence tapped away as she typed an email to Bruce._

_Dear Bruce,_

_ I hope all is well…_

_Not being able to write anymore, she quickly exited out of the letter and spun around. _

"_Conner, I thought Superman taught you to be nice to a lady?" She saw him sitting on her bed, watching her intently. _

"_How so?"_

"_One usually knocks before coming into a female dorm room." _

"_Ah." He grinned. "So, I didn't tell them."_

"_I didn't expect you to." she stood up and looked at him. _

"_Will you tell them?" _

"_No. I've decided… I'm not like you. Or Dick. Or Megan. I'm me. Cadence. I'm not Shadow. I might have done some training here and there but… I'll leave the hero work to you guys."_

"_When?"_

"_Whenever I feel the need to stop."_

"_Translation: whenever Dick stops being Dick." Conner yawned. "So… can I give him a message from you?" _

"_From Shadow sure. He seemed interested enough to read whatever she has to say." She wrote something down on a piece of paper. "Have a good journey back." She handed it to him. "Thanks for the back up too." _

"_No problem. Have fun… moonlighting and studying." He opened her window. "Be safe." He looked at her as he hung a leg out the window._

"_I'll try." _

()()()()

Roses are red  
Violets are blue  
You have to know Shadow  
Because she knows all about you

He looked at the note, and then looked over at his bed. Shadow was Cadence. Cadence was Shadow. The smell was the perfume he had bought her for her 17th birthday.

"What are you staring at?" She stared back at him.

"Uh. Nothing." He shoved the note under the pillow.

"Right." She got up and stretched out. "I'm sure it is."

**Ta Da! There is some stuff cleared up. Sorry for any confusion about the whole Shadow deal. But, if you figured it out already, it's all good. Ok, question: how should I go about time jumps? Thank you to all who have reviewed (hi fives ALL ROUND BUDDAYS!) keep those ice cream favourites rolling in! LMBF xo**


	11. Breaking In

It was hectic, the timetable Dick apparently had to adhere to. Cady had booked all his sessions for Mount Justice time and then put in his work hours, including breakfast, lunch and dinner. But, he was Dick and Dick did not like living to a timetable. Today was a Thursday. It was sunny, but there was a chance of showers later in the week.

He was at lunch with Cady when his watch beeped. There was a transmission coming from Watchtower itself.

"Take it. I'll take your lunch to the apartment and put it in the fridge. I'm off now, because Bruce left for some meeting. Its curry and rice for dinner. I'll head to the mansion if you don't call in." She stood up, kissed his forehead, took his lunch and walked in the direction of Dick's new car; a Nissan 370z coupe. It was blue. It was fast. And he trusted Cadence of all people to drive it. Seeing her zip off into the traffic, he walked to the nearest Zeta Tube and said "Nightwing Emergency Override B01"

"Nightwing B01 override." The computer coolly replied as he stepped into the tube.

()()()()

"What is it Mal?" Nightwing asked their tech.

Mal pulled up footage of someone trying to enter the cargo door of the mountain. "We have an issue. Black Manta has been trying to enter Mount Justice."

Nightwing laughed. "You're not serious?"

"We're currently on lockdown. You had to override to get in, remember? The other leaguers all have a meeting at the moment."

"Where is he now?" Nightwing started to tap on a keyboard.

"No idea. What are you doing?" Mal looked up and saw him trying to hack something. "Who are you trying to hack?"

"Wait for it." His typing increased as it continued to say access denied until there was a green light. "Meeting?"

They watched the screen.

'_The main priority is the team. I don't see why Nightwing, Megan or Conner could not be here as a voice for them?' Black Canary asked them all. _

_Batman looked at her, as solitary as ever as he replied, 'Because they all worked with Kaldur. They would not have a view that could help us sort out the situation.' _

'_Canary has a point.' Green Arrow decided to help the Team's cause. 'Any way would could just get one of them now?' _

'_You're just siding with her because she's your girlfriend GA.' Flash smirked._

'_She has a name.' Canary's eyes turned to slits. _

'_She's the cat's mother. Or in your case, the bird's.' Flash grinned once more. _

'_This isn't helping at all, so all of you calm down.' Superman took charge. 'It's Batman's call.'_

_Batman glanced up at the camera and paused. 'Nightwing, why don't you join us… instead of using the tech of the mountain to spy?' _

_Everyone looked up to the camera, which then in turn caused Nightwing to giggle a little. Thankfully, they didn't see that._

"Busted."

"Big time."

"Later." He told Mal. "Nightwing B01 Override." He stepped into the Tube and he was zapped up to Watchtower.

Coming to the room where they were meeting, Nightwing slipped in and sat beside Green Arrow.

"Thank you for joining us, Nightwing." Batman stared coldly at him. He was used to that stare. It was the 'you're in trouble but you're not a kid so I will yell at you later' look. He had received it regularly after he blew up the backyard, which he then paid for to get fixed.

"No problem."

()()()()

The meeting was so intense, he nearly had to leave. But, he toughed it out, got a talking to by Batman and was then told to leave. After changing, he zeta tubed back to Gotham and made the walk up to his apartment.

"Nice apartment." He turned the corner and saw Kaldur leaning against the wall, the door to his apartment ajar. "Pretty girlfriend."

"What do you want?"

"You know, we left before we really got to say hello to each other." He started to pace backwards and forwards. "And so, I thought, 'dinner with Dick sounds great'. So… here I am."

"Where is she?"

"Who, your girlfriend? She's in there somewhere." Kaldur peered inside. "She a superhero too?"

Pressing a distress signal on his watch, Dick rolled his eyes. "Cady is just a friend. She is Bruce Wayne's personal assistant."

"You're… _with_ Bruce Wayne's personal assistant? Next thing you'll be dating someone from Arkham."

"Which is where you're going at this rate. What do you want Kaldur?"

"Like I said. Dinner." He motioned to the door. "Please, step in." Dick took his time walking in and saw Cadence on the ground. "Don't go near her. Go to the kitchen." Kaldur stood beside her lifeless body as if to guard her from Dick. Dick did as he was told. "Make something."

"What?"

"Anything." There was an almighty bang as Conner and Rocket all arrived.

"Heard you needed some help?" Conner glared at Kaldur. "Round two."

"Cadence." Dick noted to them, bringing the attention of her unconscious state to them.

"Maybe later." Rocket told them both, going to put a bubble around the guy who used to be her friend.

"Yes, I agree." He then jumped out of a window and into a sewer, which was amazingly below.

"Is that it?" Conner was unimpressed with the underwhelming exit of his former colleague.

Everyone then came to Cadence's rescue. "She's knocked out really bad." Conner told Dick. "Do you want Watchtower or a normal hospital?"

"Watchtower."

"Ok, well we'll just need a backboard." Rocket put a magic backboard under Cadence and lifted it up so it hovered. "Let's go slowly."

()()()()

"What happened?" Batman sharply asked as Black Canary looked Cadence over.

"How am I meant to know? I was at the meeting, I came back and he was there! He trashed my apartment!" Dick roared back. "Now Cadence is just lying there…"

Batman frowned. "I will need to speak to Cadence once she wakes up."

"No you won't."

"Come on man, walk it off." Conner put a hand on his shoulder, which he shook off.

"Dick, I need to find out what happened."

"So, to do that, you're probably going to put her through some hell."

"Let's go." Conner put his hand back on Dick's should yet again. "Cadence is stronger than that." Dick went to swing at Batman, but Conner pulled him away. "Go cool off." He shoved his younger friend down the hallway.

"You had no right." Dick was about to rip into Conner, who put his hand up.

"I didn't do this. I helped, last time I checked. So go to the weights room or something and cool off. Someone will get you when she wakes up."

"Whatever." He stalked off to the Galley and into the darkness, Conner sighing as he did so.

**Naw. So Cadence seems to have issues atm. Sorry I've been a little busy but hopefully I can get on track. LMBF xxoo **


	12. Wake Up

**So poor Cadence is once again putting Dick's heart through a tumultuous ( nice word right?) rollercoaster ride D: **

Dick was at work, trying with all his might not to ring Bruce to ask him to get a report on Cadence. Lucius saw his young protégé unsettled, but did not wish to pry. The young man was like Bruce, and because of this, he would rather feed himself to the dogs before he asked Dick what was wrong.

"You have a break coming up. You can use the video conference projector." Lucius gave a grim smile before heading up to talk to his boss.

It was tempting, but Dick didn't want to harry Manhunter with mindless questions. But… Manhunter wasn't on. Quickly hacking into the Watchtower mainframe, Icon's stony face met him.

"I thought you were told to stop hacking us?" Icon asked, annoyed.

"I was told to by someone whose identity cannot be told to you." Dick stonewalled his location as he said so. "Who is in the Medi-Bay?"

"You will be if Batman catches you." There was a pause. "Manhunter just went off. Currently it's Canary on call."

"Thanking you." hacking a little further, a video feed then came up on the screen showing a hospital like room, with a number of beds; one of which with a curtain around it.

"I was told you were having some fun with the security system." Canary looked up from a book.

"How is she?"

"Still nothing. No wait, I lie. She was sleep mumbling earlier." Her eyebrow arched as she saw his face fall. "It's better than her being a vegetable. She just needs to get some rest. She has been through a lot over the last few years."

Breaking both legs, leaving the city for two years, not having a stable family environment, being up at all hours of the night, managing the billionaire bachelor himself, studying at university, Dick couldn't blame her.

"I just want her to wake up. Say hello. Tell me I need to keep to my timetable."

"It will be fine. Go back to work, because your boss is burning holes in the back of your head." She switched the feed off.

"You know… I need to change the security key." Bruce told his adoptive son from the shadows.

"I'll still get it."

"Not if it's a new system." Bruce stood beside him. "Cadence will wake up. You need not to worry anymore. Canary will send me updates periodically. Go to work or I will fire you." The last sentence was more sarcasm than anything else. Bruce wouldn't fire the one guy who could probably bring his entire company to a technological standstill.

"Yes Boss." Dick stepped back over to his work area.

()()()()

Darkness suddenly came to a bright light when Cadence awoke. It made her think she was dead. However, she doubted Conner or Canary would be in that dream with her.

"Squeeze my hands." Canary asked her. She did. "Lift your legs as I push down on them." She did that too. "What's your name?"

"Cadence Andrews."

"Do you know where you are?"

"Watchtower?" She took a wild guess, which she took for the right answer as Conner smiled.

"Who is this?" Canary pushed Conner closer to her.

"The boofhead." Conner raised an eyebrow. "Conner. Kon-El. Whatever."

"Good, good. You know, Batman was even worried. _Batman___of all people. Don't even get me started on your crazy boyfriend." She took Cadence's blood pressure.

"I don't have a boyfriend." Cadence quickly replied.

"Ah, right and Arrow doesn't want to marry me." Canary laughed. "You and Dick are like honey and bees."

"Or like Texans and their hats." Conner added. "I'm one of your close friends. You guys are so going out."

"Nope." Cadence laughed at their conspiracy. "He hasn't asked me out."

Conner and Canary looked at each other. "Ok then." There was an awkward pause as Canary bit her lip.

"I'm hungry." Conner turned around and produced lasagne. "I'm guessing you are too."

"Slowly. I need to go update Batman." Canary warned the bother of them.

()()()()

Dick rushed through Watchtower, eventually getting to the Medi-Bay.

"And she says…" Canary murmured.

"Cady?" Dick now advanced slowly, unsure and worried.

"Hey Dick." Cadence's voice radiated happily. He came around the curtain and smiled as he saw her sitting up, half eaten lasagne resting on her lap.

"You're eating like you normally do. Does that mean I can take you to the apartment?" he laughed, clearly relieved.

"Oh maybe." She wiggled over and patted beside her. He took the spot and put his hand around her neck. She leaned onto his shoulder and smelt Dick's cologne. "You changed your cologne!" she whacked his chest with her hand.

"Sorry, gosh." He fended her off playfully.

"You so lied to me." Canary's voice emanated from behind the curtain.

"Did not." Cadence replied.

"What did you lie about?" Dick asked, confused.

"Nothing."

"Sure, sure."

()()()()

Having to be in a wheelchair was only fun for one person; and it wasn't the person who needed it. Cadence watched on as Dick zoomed around the apartment, giggling like a little girl… until he hit a wall.

"So… here's your chair." He sat beside her.

"Oh gee, thanks, it's just what I wanted." She laughed, before making a straight face. "You know they think we're going out?"

"Who?"

"Everyone… I think."

Dick laughed. "Let them think then."

Cadence wondered what Dick was thinking. He was doing the same.

"Well…" Cadence looked at him. "I think we need to talk."

"About?"

"Us."

**Ohhhhh. Yeah. There you go. HI FIVES TO ALL THAT REVIEWED YOU ARE ALL ANGELS :D keep your favourite ice-cream flavours rolling in. And time jumps? What is your thoughts? LMBF xo**


	13. Happy Birthday

**So. Uh. Yeah. Sorry for the little Cliffy. Don't own a thing at all (except for Cadence!)… **

Bruce Wayne smirked as he read the celebrity pages of the paper. 'Wayne Junior and the Best Friend: A Love Story' was the title he read, which spanned across two pages, citing all the stories and rumours that pointed to the large colour photo taken yesterday of Dick, wearing jeans, converses, a blue tee, black blazer, black scarf and Ray Bans holding hands with Cadence, who was wearing basically the same thing, except with a pink shirt and a cardigan.

Dick was across from him, eating breakfast, not taking any notice of what Bruce was reading.

"So is it all true?"

Dick looked up, and then around, to make sure he wasn't talking to anyone else. "What?"

"About you and Cadence." He held up the newspaper again as he buried himself in it once more.

Dick laughed. "Thought you didn't read the celebrity pages?"

"Well?"

"Yeah. It is."

"Does she know about this?"

"She knows that the paparazzi love you and me. She will deal with it."

Cadence came down the stairs in her pyjamas, her hair mussed everywhere. "Happy birthday Dick." She yawned, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Morning Bruce." She gave Bruce a wave as she sloped off to the kitchen.

"Is that your Gotham Knights jersey?" Bruce watched on disbelievingly as she went into the kitchen.

"Yeah. So?" Dick sipped his coffee, a little sick of his adoptive father asking questions.

"You love that jersey. Yet Cadence is wearing it." He shook his head and left the table, a slight grin only Alfred saw was shown as he headed to the Batcave.

()()()()

It was lunchtime for Dick… at HQ. The aromas of food made by Megan and Cadence had lulled the group training into a false sense of security as each seemed to get hit by Canary as they trained.

"I thought I was training everyone?" Nightwing jumped up ready to keep going.

"How can I let you train people when _food_ of all things throws you off? Or your girlfriend? Nightwing, man up, you got beaten by a girl." Black Canary caused the group of Conner, Wonder Girl, La'gaan, Robin and Blue Beetle to laugh.

"At least my girlfriend is a fair fighter." Nightwing muttered.

Black Canary kept going through them until it was time for lunch.

Coming out to the table, there was a banquet of food.

"Ok, so we're all going to Nightwing's for dinner, yeah?" Jaime laughed as he sat beside Bumblebee.

"I can go there whenever, so this is just normal food for me." Robin replied, everyone glaring enviously at him and his cool adoptive brother's girlfriend.

"So, before we do anything else…" Cadence stood up. "Since I was fourteen, I've known this skinny smart alec of a kid who was a superhero… because he wanted to save the world. He's now twenty two, and I'm so happy to say that yes, he is mine… but sometimes I need to let my _other _family take him away so he can go be happy with what he really loves doing… saving people. Happy birthday Nightwing."

Everyone repeated happy birthday as they all ate and drank happily… until Batman's voice sounded.

"We have a mission. All members please report to the main computer."

Everyone then whined and complained as they stocked up on what they could and left. Nightwing smiled as Cadence came up to him and looked up into his domino masked eyes.

"Have fun. Don't die. We have reservations you have to keep." He nodded, kissing her on the lips sweetly.

"Nightwing to the main computer." Batman called, causing Dick to run down to the computer.

()()()()

Dick knew he was in trouble. It was 11pm, clearly past the reservation time and he was just getting into the apartment.

"Surprise!" Cadence stood with dinner in one hand and a happy birthday sign in the other.

"What?" He shut the door and dropped everything.

"I knew you wouldn't make it back. So, I decided to just stay in." she put the food and sign down. "Just the two of us." She cupped her hands on his face. "Happy Birthday Dick." She kissed him deeply, which he reciprocated happily as he lifted her so her legs were around his waist and walked them to the bedroom….

()()()()

There was an alarm going off, someone was knocking on the door and someone's phone was going off. Dick awoke and saw Cadence asleep, the sun barely missing her face.

The phone was Cadence's; with a message from Conner saying he was up for lunch today and to get out of bed. After turning the alarm off and finding some respectable clothes, he rushed out to the door and opened it to see a woman smiling good naturedly at him.

"Uh, sorry, I hope you weren't waiting too long." Dick smiled.

"No, not at all. I'm just new, we live down the hall." She held her hand out. "Susana King."

"Nice to meet you. Dick Grayson."

She nodded. "I don't read any of the stuff on you and your family. Bruce Wayne does a great deal in my books, no matter what those stupid tabloids say."

Cadence then made an appearance at the door, smiling as she slid under Dick's arm. "Hi, I'm Cadence."

"Susana. Was just explaining that I live down the corridor."

"Oh great!" she smiled.

"I have a son, James, he's six months old. I work most days so the babysitter will be around too."

"I'd love to meet the little guy one day." Dick stifled a yawn pretty well as Susana nodded in agreement.

"Sure. Just knock. I'm always open for a coffee." She looked at them both. "Ok, well I just came to say hello. Have a good day." Susana left for her apartment as Dick shut the door.

"Morning sleepy head." He sniggered as he walked towards the coffee machine.

"Don't get me started. To look that awake this early in the morning took an effort." She collapsed onto the lounge and turned the TV on.

"What about me, I actually answered the door!" He took a double shot and started to sip it.

She looked over at him, glaring. "That's fine. I have the shower first."

Dick watched on as she flounced into the room. "Don't use all the hot water!" he called before pausing, hearing her laugh as she turned the shower on. "Cadence? Don't do that!" he raced in after her, just so they wouldn't waste hot water…

**Awww! Yay! I will put in an Ice Cream next chapter! Reviews are very welcome, thanks to all that has read so far 3 xo**


	14. Babysitting

**So, the cute concept of them together is, you know, cute… but throw some babysitting in there… :O **

Dick was at home, having been an idiot and fracturing parts of his leg, effectively putting himself on house arrest and in a moon boot. Casually flicking through the midday shows, he heard a commotion down the hall. Limping to see what the drama was about, he saw Susana King with a little baby crying.

"You need help Susana?" Dick asked, slowly going over to see if he could assist her.

"The babysitter just balked on me and I need to get to work, so James is heading to day care." She was pulling his pram out as she said this.

"Uh, if you want, I can babysit James? I have younger siblings and Cadence is just at the shops, she'll be back soon." He offered.

Susana thought about it. "I don't want to be a hassle."

"You won't be! James and I can chill on the sofa and watch sports. Cadence can set his portable crib up or whatever. Pretty sure we can handle it." Dick helped get all of James stuff into the apartment and held him in one hand as Susana said goodbye to her son, thanked Dick once more and left for work.

()()()()

Cadence arrived from the shops and heard the laughter of a small child emanating from the apartment. Coming through the door, Dick was on the floor with a small baby that was rolling around, gurgling with cheerfulness.

"Wow, didn't know you had little children stashed in the place." She picked James up after shimmying out of her large coat. "Hello James. What are you doing here with Dick?" She saw he had sandy blonde hair, stunning blue eyes and a cheeky grin on his face, like nothing could make him cry.

"Susana's baby sitter decided not to turn up, so I offered." Dick pulled himself onto the couch. "He's a chipper kid, I can tell you that much."

Cadence gave James back to him so she could unpack the groceries. The last bag she excitingly grabbed out her ice cream for the month, chocolate chip cookie dough.

"Where do you get this stuff from?" Dick looked up for a moment, seeing the bucket it was in before continuing to play with James.

"My favourite shop." She sat down beside him and picked up James' discarded baby bag. Looking through it she found spares of clothes, shoes, some fruit, bottles of formula and other miscellaneous things. "He's all set." She stood up again, grinning.

Dick looked up at her. "To do what?"

"I have to go to Wayne Industries, you have to check in with Lucius and James can't watch ESPN by himself." Cadence then put her coat back on. "Let's go adventuring." Dick just sat there as she put James into a cute coat and then got a shock as Cadence threw his crutches at him. "Hurry up cripple, we don't have all day."

"I don't have a coat!" he found that now flying through the air too, much to James' glee. "Thank you Cady." He called as she came out with a scarf on too. "Tell me it isn't snowing." She just walked past, ignoring him. "Cadence, tell me it isn't snowing."

()()()()

It took them half an hour to get from the apartment to Wayne Industries, mainly because Dick wanted to keep stopping to look at things. He was quite quick on his crutches, managing to stay vertical on the slippery surface. James was secured into his pram, a cover over him to keep any astray snowflakes away from him. There was a peephole that Cadence used to talk to him instead, with Dick occasionally sticking his head in to be silly.

Getting to the offices of Bruce Wayne and company, the three made their way to Bruce's office.

"Cadence…" he paused to see the pram. "Lucius would like to see you Dick." He waited for Dick to leave. "Now… who is that?"

She pulled the cover off the pram and pulled James out. "James, Bruce, Bruce, James." Bruce gave her a questioning look. "His mother lives down the hall, we're just looking after him because the babysitter didn't turn up. "

Bruce nodded and pointed at the pile of folders. "They all need to be sorted. I don't mean to take away from your day off."

"Ah, well, you know, because I like you as a boss so much, I think I can handle it." She handed James to Bruce. "Have fun for twenty minutes."

He went to go give James back, but she had zipped away before he could do or say a thing. "So… do you like superheroes?" he asked as James looked up at him, grinning gummily as he played with Bruce's rather expensive looking tie.

It wasn't even five minutes when Dick hobbled in and saw James rolling around on the rug in front of Bruce's desk, with the said man sitting in a visitor's seat with a laptop on the side of the desk. James was about to roll into the desk, but Bruce, with his lightning fast reflexes, was able to stick his foot out, which the baby hit lightly before rolling back the other way.

"Nice. Never knew the Dark Knight himself had a soft side." Dick sat on the ground.

"Don't start. Cadence dumped him with me." Bruce looked over the lid of his laptop. "You're training next week."

"I'm in a moon boot for a month!"

"So? I didn't think it was a question."

Dick sighed, annoyed. "Well, you have a lot to do and James looks like he's about to eat a dinosaur." He pulled out some fruit, which caught the little boy's attention. Dick then gently pulled James towards him and gave him an apple piece to gum on. "Yummo kid!" Bruce saw that his eldest adopted son was now not going to talk to him about the new arrangement. As he walked off to see how long Cadence would be, Dick eyed him as he left the office. "He's a meanie." He whispered to James, who just looked at him. "A real big, bad one."

It was then and there James decided to throw the hugest tantrum Dick had ever seen a baby throw. James chucked his apple, went red, cried and screamed. Poor Dick was having a hard time trying to calm the little guy down as people started looking at the pair on the floor.

As if she was on cue, Cadence rushed in all bothered and worried.

"What's wrong big fella?" she took James from Dick and started to coo to him, grabbing a warm bottle that she had just heated up and giving it to him. "What did you do to him?" She demanded from him. Dick just looked blankly at her. Seeing James take to it, she saw her watch and knew it would nearly be nap time. "Let's duck out now before Bruce gives me more work." She strapped James in the pram once more and rushed out, leaving Dick to hop after her quickly.

()()()()

It was late in the afternoon; Cadence was ironing as both James and Dick were passed out on the bed. It was such a cute sight, Dick just snoozing beside this little bundle that was locked in on the bed by pillows surrounding him that she couldn't bear to wake either of them up.

However, when there was a knock on the door, she knew their time babysitting was up. Susana came in, grateful that Dick and Cadence had done such a lovely job. Without waking Dick up, Cadence picked up James, who fussed a little as she took him back to his real room down the hall with his mother.

"Thank you so much. You two are life savers!" Susana smiled.

"It's not a problem Susana, he was a darling." She gave the little boy back to his mother. "I'll see you later." Leaving to go back to her huge pile of ironing, she saw Dick still asleep and decided to annoy him.

"DICK!" she yelled, jumping on him. "WAKE UP!"

**Hahah. Naw! REVIEW LOVELIES! **


	15. The First Meeting

**So, I was thinking… a flashback. A meaningful one… One everyone will hopefully enjoy! **

June Fifth, 2013

A young girl sat on the steps of a decrepit looking building. She was scarily thin, her gaunt frame too small for her huge clothes. She had long blonde hair, thin, like herself, which was dank and uncut. She today also had a tear stained face, her grey eyes looking out over the bright city as she wiped her nose on the back of her hand. It was nearing dark, but everything was still quite visable.

Hearing her father shouting once again, she slunk down to under the stairs as he roughly came down them, trying to find her.

"You stupid brat! Where are you?" he boomed, looking around angrily. Getting bored and seeing he needed another beer, he gave up and went back up the stairs.

Sitting down she started to sing happy birthday to herself, knowing no-one else would sing it for her. Today she fourteen and no one cared. It appeared that the coast was now clear, and after her little moment, she saw that her father had parked the car across the road. Running across the road, she was able to pry the door open of the old car and was about to get in when a yell caused her to spin around with a hand behind her back to stop the door. However, the door shut smartly with a crack that only she heard, causing her to go pale.

"Girl, what are you doing?" he demanded to know, not particularly caring that she was near the car.

"Just looking dad." She called, causing him to withdraw from the window. Turning around she saw her hand in the door, jammed in so that it was bleeding. "Ow." That now wasn't her biggest problem, but that the door didn't want to open again. Getting more and more desperate, she tried to pull her hand out, ignoring the burning and the blood, to no avail and she wasn't going to call out to her father.

"Please!" She called softly, seeing a light come up the hill. "Please help me. Please."

()()()()()

Jumping around buildings, Robin was finding it increasingly annoying that his mentor continually kept disappearing, finding marks, beating them up and coming back without him… his mentee.

"I'm going up to the north quadrant." Robin got onto his bike and rode up to the more dingy part of town, the part Bruce Wayne was trying to fix. Going around street by street, it was quiet, which was what he expected, until he turned up to the highest street of all and started to ride by slowly.

"Please! Please help me. Please." He heard a girl calling. Getting further up, he stopped just before the house and ran up to a girl who had her hand caught in a door.

"Hey, how did you do this?" He looked around her hand to see it damaged and bleeding profusely.

"I was trying to sneak out. My dad caught me by surprise and I tried to stop the door for slamming." She murmured, her face a sickly pale colour.

"Ok." He looked up at her. She was a little taller than him, but looked around the same age. "I'm going to pick the lock. Do you want me to call your dad?"

"No!" the fright in her eyes was evident. "Sneaking out."

Robin got it. She was trying to run away. Quickly picking the lock and prising the door open, she withdrew her hand and found she couldn't move it much at all. "Come with me." He held out his hand for her good one.

She just looked at it. "If you take me to hospital, they'll just give me back to dad."

He shook his head. "I won't take you to hospital. I'll take you away from here for now." He wiggled his fingers, waiting for her expectantly. She took it and was dragged along to a bike that she eyed nervously. "Don't worry. I want to help." He helped her on. "I'm Robin."

"Cadence." She sat so he could sit in front of her. Holding on, they zoomed through Gotham at speed. "Today's my birthday." She murmured, before blacking out in the warm city night.

()()()()()

It was dark when Cadence awoke on a soft bed, under a sheet. Her hand was sufficiently numbed and by the touch of her other hand, she surmised that it was now bandaged too. Getting up slowly, she felt her way to a door, which led to a hallway. Making her way towards the light, she heard voices and smelt food. Seeing the entrance to a staircase, she looked down and saw a handsome man talking to a young boy, their butler not far away.

Seeing that the man spotted her, she withdrew her head and wondered where she was.

"Young Lady would you like to join us for a late night snack?" an English voice emanated from beside her. She nodded and followed the butler down to the table, where a seat had been set out for her. It was all foreign, the setup of all the forks, knives and spoons and the paper doylies. Sitting down, saw looked to her left and kept in a gasp. It was Bruce Wayne. He was the famous bachelor trying to make her part of the town better.

"Hello Cadence." He looked her over. He was appalled at how thin she was, how thin her hair was. He was trying to help kids out like her, but… he had never seen Cadence before. "I'm Bruce Wayne." She nodded, to show she knew that. "Dick brought you here under the allegation that you were trying to run away." She nodded to that too. "Were you trying to find shelter when you caught your hand in the door?"

She paused and decided to reply. "I wanted to get away from dad."

Bruce nodded. "You can stay here for now. I have some work to do, but Alfred would love to make you whatever you wish." He got up and moved away. "Happy birthday." He mumbled as he walked past her, making her smile.

Looking around, the kid now was leaning back in his chair, his feet on the table. "So, I know you might not be accustomed to this yet but here." He slid a package along the table. "A birthday present."

Looking at it, Cadence slowly opened it to see a few items. One was a letter. The next was a box. The third was a note. Opening the box, she looked at a glass rose sitting there, glittering amazingly in the light.

"Wow." Was all she could say, speechless at its pure beauty.

"I didn't know what you wanted, but… every girl needs to say at least one guy gave her a rose of some sort." Dick sat forwards. "Keep going."

Ripping the letter open, it had the Gotham Academy insignia on the top. It then went on to say that she had been given the 2012-2013 Bruce Wayne Foundation Scholarship. The person before it, an Artemis Crock, had written a sticky note saying Gotham Academy did amazing things for her and she hoped it did the same for Cadence. Smiling, she put it aside to see the third note, from Bruce himself.

_Cadence. I might seem a little hard at times, I might yell at Dick and shut myself away or disappear entirely, but know that tonight is for you. Dick will take you to your own room tonight. Enjoy._

Dick took her up to the room and she laughed with amazement. It was only half done, but it was obvious they had started to make it a girl's room. It had an ensuite and all. It was three times as big as her old room and was twice as wide.

"It's a little excessive, but hey. Birthday. I'm basically six months older than you, but you're taller than me, so I'm expecting as soon as you find your way, you'll be joking me in no time." Dick sat on the bed. "All good?"

Cadence looked down at her hair and looked up. "Can I get a haircut?"

He looked at her apprehensively. "How short?"

She thought about it. "Pixie cut should be fine."

Dick laughed. "Tomorrow. Let's just get through tonight."

Cadence laughed too. "Deal." she let him out so he could go to bed. "And Dick?" he looked up. "Your secret is safe with me. I won't tell a soul who you really are."

()()()()()

Present Night

Dick stared at the glass rose that sat upon the mirrored table in his and Cadence's room. It signified the start of their friendship and everything up to that today.

"It's still as beautiful as the day you gave it to me." Cadence slid into bed beside him and smiled.

"It's sort of why I gave it to you." he let her rest on his shoulder.

"It's also a constant reminder of that secret. But, it will always be safe with me."

"Good night Cadence." He kissed the top of her head appreciatively.

She turned the lights out with a large smile plastered to her face. "Good night Dick."

()()()()()

Dick nodded. "I know you won't. Good night Cadence."

"Good night Dick." She shut the door to her room and smiled. He was going to be her friend for a _very _long time… he just didn't know it yet.

**Confused? Just say so and I'll explain in the next chapter. Reviews everyone… you've been amazing! LMBFxo**


	16. Distractions

**Don't own a thing… maybe except for Cadence… **

Nightwing was on overnight duty in Mount Justice. He looked at the time on the monitor and knew Cadence would be either studying or in bed reading, the usual for a Friday night. Seeing that the Justice League was dealing with an Earthquake, the only minor jobs the Team had been put onto was localised rounds of cities: which included New York, Gotham, Los Angeles and Star City.

Deciding to join Batgirl in Gotham, he Zeta Tubed to the furthest location from the apartment because he knew that if he went any closer he would be tempted to walk in to say goodnight to his girlfriend.

Finding his way to a rooftop, he waited for a robbery. Within an hour, he had captured three thieves. By then, he had made his way to the centre of the city and caught up with Batgirl.

"I thought you were on duty?" She asked sardonically, sitting on the ledge of the Wayne Industries Tower.

"I needed to stretch my legs. I'll go back soon." He looked down at her. "Why look at me like that?" her face was set in a questioning look.

"Because you stretching your legs usually has something to do with someone starting with 'C' and ending with 'adence'."

Rolling his eyes, he scaled down to the secret Tube outside the tower. Getting back to the tower, he sat in a squishy seat and saw someone had been going through the photos on the TV before being sent away. It was of New Year's, which was a month ago. It was gently going through the slideshow, making him laugh at La'gaan trying to take Dick himself down in a competition that ended up with Dick beating all contestants for the boys. Then it was the girls turn at fighting, the party and the after photos. There was one of Cadence waiting for the girls to finish play fighting, leaning against the rocky wall next to Dick who had a fake medal on, and her head resting on his shoulder. The next was of him now whispering to Cadence, who was laughing. It was good, but sneaky photography by Megan, he had to admit. At the party, Cadence was serving, with Megan even getting one of Dick having sour cream on his face thanks to his girlfriend 'accidentally' having some on her hands and saying "Oh Dick, you have something on your face'… he knew now not to ever trust that line.

Watching on a little longer, Beast Boy must have stolen the camera, because there were quite a few of Cadence, his puppy crush, dancing along with Zatanna and Conner. Then there were the New Years Kisses. There he stopped it. There was one of Cadence looking intently into his eyes, a slight grin on her face. Running to the computer, he printed out the photo in a few different sizes and put them in his locker. Looking at the clock once more, it was nearly one am. He struggled with himself before deciding to just sneak into the apartment, something Cadence would yell at him for. Before he knew it, he was in the elevator, hoping no one would see him, as he disabled the cameras for good measure. Getting to the floor, he snuck into the apartment, put the photos on the table and went into the bedroom to see Cadence passed out on the covers. It was cold, but thankfully had stopped snowing. Gently lifting her, he pulled back the covers and proceeded to place her in the bed.

"Dick. Go away." She murmured in her sleep. At this he laughed and put the blankets over her.

"Ok." He kissed her forehead. "See you in the morning."

Walking out the building, he saw Batgirl standing across the road, arms folded.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing." She put her hand up and was pulled away by her grapple gun. "Don't you have paperwork to do?" she called.

()()()()()

It was now seven am and the day team for the weekend were slowly making their way in. As the last person came through the door, Dick was off to his apartment for sleep.

Exhausted, Dick changed into a tank top and long flannel pants before lying on the bed with a sigh of relief. Cadence came in and decided to lie beside him.

"How was work?"

"Boring. Not much going on last night so I did some duty, some paperwork. Went for a walk." He looked up at the mirror and saw a picture beside it. It was the one from New Year's Eve.

"Yeah, I know you ducked in last night." She laughed. "It's a great picture."

He nodded and looked at her. "Batgirl gave me one for visiting."

She looked back up at him. "Well because you're not meant to be distracted by me."

"But I like when you distract me." He yawned.

"I don't care. Have a sleep. I'll be watching ESPN."

He made a noise of content. "A girlfriend that watches EPSN. My life is complete." With that, he slowly, but surely, fell asleep, knowing when he woke up, she would there to distract him once more…


	17. Rising Once More

**A one year time jump, just so we can get some stuff going! Dick is 23 going on 24, Cadence has already turned 23. **

"Do you realise the implications of this assignment?" Batman asked Nightwing seriously.

Nightwing just looked at him blankly from his seat. "You're not kidding?" seeing his adoptive father fold his arms and intensify his glare was clearly a 'no'. "What about Cadence?"

"To have the assignment work, she cannot be told any part of the plan. She could compromise the integrity of it."

"Do I have a choice?" once again, he was glared at. "Fine, fine, but can I at least just say like, I don't know, something to Cadence?"

"Have Conner with you. He knows the assignment. During it, he will be protecting Cadence in case someone tries to attack her. I will get her to come back to the Manor."

Nightwing nodded and got up to leave. "Just protect Cady. Please." he told Batman, who stayed motionless as his adoptive son left.

()()()()

"What are you doing Dick Grayson?" Cadence laughed on the computer screen to him and Conner. "Is this a joke or are you bored?" she had her hair in a choppy bob, having gotten it cut that very day.

"I wanted to see your hair cut." He smiled. "I like it."

"Good, because I'm not changing for you." she eyed people prepping the bio ship. "You going somewhere tonight Mr Grayson?"

He turned around to see what she saw. "No, nowhere in particular." He looked back at her to see her sceptical face. "I'm serious."

"Oh yeah, like you tell me _everything_ that happens at the HQ." She yawned. "Ok, I'm pretty sure it's bedtime for me."

"Hey Cady." She looked at him, but he paused and looked at Conner, who grinned and stepped away. "I love you."

"AW!" Conner called, causing Cadence to burst out with giggles.

"I love you too Dick. See you later." She turned her laptop off. Dick turned and saw Conner frowning.

"I'll protect her. I won't let anything touch her." He held out his hand to Dick, who shook it.

"I know you won't." Dick sighed as he saw Batman waiting at the Zeta Tube for him.

()()()()()

Cadence awoke early the next morning, her phone buzzing. There were a number of texts, some from Zatanna, some from Conner and some from Bruce Wayne's office. Sitting up, she ignored them as she went to turn the TV on. It was on the breaking news with Cat Grant.

"_This just in, it has been confirmed at least one superhero with an allegiance to the Justice League has been killed in a massive fight with AMAZO. The robot has been once more pulled apart at the expense of the hero Nightwing's life. More will come to us from Iris West-Allen."_

Cadence looked at the screen and saw a profile picture of Nightwing. Running back to her phone and locking the door to her room, she looked at Zatanna's message.

'Come to the Hall! It's urgent'

The next being from Conner.

'I will be there in an hour. I'll take you to the Hall. Do Not Talk To The Press.'

The final message from Bruce was just as bad.

'Turn all electronic devices off. Pack a bag. Alfred will pick it up during the day. Be at the Hall.'

She was about to scream her head off when Conner burst through the door.

"Cadence." He took a moment to regain himself.

"It's not true?" her eyes started to water. "Tell me it's not true!" she yelled at him. "CONNER!" she started to hit and punch him out of rage. He just stood there and took it until she gave up sobbing on his chest. He put her arms around her and stayed strong.

"I have direct orders to take you to the hall for positive… identification. Its protocol." He took her wrist lightly and pulled her out to the lounge room. "Zatanna will come pack you bag to go to wherever Batman wants you to go." She nodded and decided to be strong, for Dick's sake.

Zeta Tubing to the Hall, she saw people milling at the Library window, with tears on their faces. Heading to Watchtower, Zatanna was in tears and the arms of Superman, while Raquel was talking to Icon in the corner. Batman was waiting outside the medi-bay.

Cadence just looked at him sadly. "He trusted you to watch his back." Was all she said, before walking into the familiar room.

Canary was standing beside a black body bag and as the younger woman approached, she unzipped it before leaving.

It took her a moment before she peered inside. Starting to cry, she ripped it open and took the cold hand of her boyfriend.

"Tell me it's a joke." She whispered. "Tell me this is all messed up Dick." Conner, Batman and Canary all looked on gloomily. "TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE!" she yelled. "Tell me it's not true Dick." She repeated, lowering her voice. "Tell me it's not…" she took the side of the table to steady herself, as dizziness came over her. "Tell me…" she fell to the ground.

"Cady!" Conner rushed in to assist her as she blacked out slowly.

"Tell… me…" she shuddered, before closing her eyes.

Opening her eyes, she saw Conner's face hovering above her own.

"Hey, can you hear me?" he asked.

"He's dead Conner." She started to cry again.

"I know, Cady, I know." he replied in a soothing tone. "Just breathe."

"She just fainted from emotional distress. Also, she probably hasn't eaten breakfast." Superman was heard in the general area.

"We need to organise everything. Conner and Zatanna take Cadence to the galley and keep her there until she has eaten. Then find her a spare room. Zatanna, then head to their… her apartment. Pack a bag for the next few days." Batman ordered.

()()()()()

Three days after the death of Nightwing, the public was still in mourning. They all milled outside the Hall of Justice as Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Lagoon Boy and Superboy marched the casket of Nightwing out from the service. Following behind was Cadence, who was wearing a copy of her Shadow costume and a domino mask, Robin and Batgirl. Every other League member followed afterwards, everyone heading to the D.C. Cemetery.

At the Cemetery, Batman, Cadence, Robin and Batgirl all sat at the front, with Conner directly behind Cadence. During the proceedings, a large cackle stopped Superman from finishing his speech.

"Why, hello, hello!" The Riddler called. "Riddle me this, riddle me that, the maker makes it but doesn't use it…The buyer buys it but doesn't need it... The one who needs it never knows it...What is it?" Cadence stood up and turned around to face the Riddler. "Yes? You? Young lady?"

Conner poked her. "Sit down."

She ignored him. "A coffin, you sick fool."

He smiled in delight. "Why yes! And today, one of the Bat Family died tragically. See, I told a certain someone that if any of his beloved family died, I'd be there to celebrate. Well, Batsy, here I am!" he laughed.

As he was jumping around, something quick and dark hit him, causing him to topple to the ground with it. Everyone stood up to see what was going on. An unidentifiable person was then putting a zip tie around his wrists, whispered something in the Riddler's ear and stood up, to the applause of everyone. Looking, Cadence recognised a tattoo on the person's right shoulder, which was a 'C' in calligraphy writing.

Batman and Superman then took the assailant who stopped the Riddler and shoved him into a van as Hal Jordan took the Riddler away. "Wait, wait." Cadence tried to fight her way through the crowd, but Conner stopped her.

"We need to get back to the Watchtower. Now." He told her, running her to a car that was parked near the cemetery.

()()()()()

Sitting in her room, a beautiful shot of Earth entered Cadence's window. She thought she knew what she saw, but Conner told her that she just imagined it.

Going to lie down, her door opened and Batman brought in a person with a hood over their head, a black tracksuit on and handcuffs around their wrists.

"Whoa!" she stood up again. "What's this? My punching bag for answering the Riddler's riddle?"

Batman took the cuffs off. "See for yourself." He turned the person around and left.

She was cautious as she went to take the hood off. Seeing the blue eyes she loved waking up to, she screamed and backed away.

Dick put his hands up. "Calm down."

"Calm down? I WAS TOLD YOU WERE DEAD!" she yelled.

"I got better?" he smiled.

"No, no, I'm sorry, I cannot comprehend. How?"

"It was all a hoax so that we could get the Riddler out of hiding." Dick stated. "Batman said I had to die because he couldn't die, Batgirl has a huge family and no one would want to see a kid like Robin dead."

She swallowed. "So what's the cover story now?"

"The body they found was AMAZO's constructor, the funeral was for Ace, Batman's dog." He stepped forwards. "I didn't want to do it."

"Why did you?"

"Because I was trying to make DC safer. I was trying to make your life safer. Can you not see that?" he took her by the arms. "I did it because I love you and I would never want to see you as hurt as you were today."

She nodded. "I understand."

"Please don't cry." He hugged her tightly. "I'll make you breakfast every morning for the next month if I have to, just don't cry." He felt her nodding again. "I will never let you go again." He rested his head atop of hers. "Ever."

**Sorry, but the idea popped straight into my head and I was like YES! :D reviews please xo**


	18. Jealousy

**Jealousy. Oh the thing that gets so many of us. Thought I'd bring in a character that isn't used in the series, but needs a mention because… she just does to me haha :D **

Cadence remembered the girl 'Kory', which was her nickname. She looked like a tan, long haired, red headed Barbie doll, in a good way, of course. After being at boarding school for nearly a year, at fifteen, Cadence was about to come back to the manor, but something had stopped the process.

Walking along the hallways with Bette and Barbara, Cadence was laughing and having a good time remembering a small incident from the lesson before when they saw Dick talking to some girl. She was new, only just joining the Academy in the last couple of weeks and she was very pretty.

"Hey Dick, get her number?" Bette called as they continued walking, making Dick go very red.

This also made Cadence a little… jealous. They did go out, for a good year or so, to which Cadence was basically cut out of Dick's life by this girl because she was a 'bad influence' and needed 'to find someone for herself'.

After the break up, Dick moped and whined and complained like a three year old. Of course, Cadence was the one who took it all. The crying. The love letters. The late conversations in either of their rooms. It was a little ridiculous. But, he eventually got over it.

Now this Kory girl, who was now a woman, stood in front of her, in the doorway of the apartment. Oh the joy of 'good' memories. It was 9am on a Saturday morning. Wearing a pair of leggings and Dick's track jumper, she opened the door to see this little ray of sunshine.

"Cadence Andrews?" She looked at Cadence unbelievingly. "Do you live here?"

Smirking, she heard movement, which was Dick rolling out of bed. "Part time. How can I help you Kory?"

"Uh, well, I was wondering if I could talk to Dick. I contacted the Team and they gave me this address."

She made a mental note to remind Mal never to do that again. "Oh, uh, let me go see if he's decent." Walking backwards, Cadence knocked on the bedroom door. "Richard, are you decent?"

"Hang on!" he called, before pulling the door open. "You woke up early." He smiled, hair everywhere. He was experimenting, growing it out. It was different, but different to Cadence was good.

"You have a visitor." She looked pointedly at Kory.

Dick sighed. "Hey Kory. Come on in." he welcomed her with a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just in town for the day." Was the reply, making Cadence want to retch. Walking into the office, she shut and locked the door; glad she couldn't hear Dick and his mushy ex.

Two hours later, there was a delicate knock. Cadence ignored it, not wanting to stop her work, which she was on a roll for. There was another knock before he must have given up, moving in the direction of the small 'linen' cupboard beside the office door. It was really where he kept all of his Nightwing gear. Realising what he was doing, it wasn't long until Cadence heard the door lock unlock itself with a pop.

"You locked yourself in here like a little introvert." Dick told her incredulously. "You could have at least said goodbye."

"That would have been great."

"Listen, I know you don't particularly like her, but you really need to cool your jets. She was here to see how I was going."

"Considering she broke your heart, made you cut all ties with someone that you lived with and made you use so many of _my _tissues, no, I don't need to cool my jets." Cadence swung around. "What did she want?"

"Nothing. She just wanted to check in before she went home. What's up with you?" Dick took her hand, a grin on his face.

Deciding to be upfront, Cadence summed it up into one word. "Jealousy."

This made him laugh. "Oh Cadence. You? Jealous? Wow."

"She is tanned, she's pretty and she's unique. She's a Dick Grayson ex."

"You're smart, you're beautiful and you're one of a kind. So, you're different to her." Cadence was lost for words. "Don't be jealous."

She nodded and beamed with relief. "I won't be."

"So, I was thinking pancakes and waffles and ice cream and chocolate sauce and…" his description of their breakfast while he was advancing on her was cut short by the beeping of his watch.

Tipping his head back and growling at the ceiling, Dick looked back down and saw Cadence laughing. "Go, I'm pretty sure pancakes and waffles and ice cream are an all-day phenomena in your books." Gracious for her willingness to let him go, he gave her a kiss and darted off. "Just… don't eat lunch! Or dinner!' she called after him.


	19. Life

**Life**

Dick and Cadence decided to surprise the occupants of Wayne manor and come up for Sunday breakfast. It was 6.30am when they got there, with Alfred happily letting them into the house.

"Most of them are still sleeping, including Master Bruce." Them included Tim and his entourage of friends who had stayed for a sleepover. Entering the kitchen, Dick grabbed the bacon and eggs before heading to the backyard to barbeque. He had seen it done before, so he didn't think anything too bad could happen. Cadence walked into the large informal lounge and saw about eight boys all either snoring or silently listening to their music players. Tim was sitting up, reading quietly. Mouthing a quick hello, she pointed to the back yard and tapped her watch before going back to the kitchen.

"Miss Cadence it has been such a long time." Alfred gave her a cup of coffee. "Care to indulge an old man?" he sat at the small table in the middle of the kitchen, with Cadence joining him and filling him in on her life.

Afterwards, Alfred smiled and decided to tell her something. "When you entered this house, you were alone and quite scared of your future. I could see it; I could feel it and I could hear it in that rather soft voice you used to have. Then I watched you grow. You had some issues with your temper and you would rather keep everything bottled inside… but you would also die than see someone close to you, like Master Bruce or Master Richard, get hurt. You'd rather help someone who might not need your help now, but would down the track. I had a vision, I still do every once and a while, that you would be sitting in that lounge room, with the man of your dreams, with a family that you love and you just asking me to sit with you and talk like we are now. I hope it comes true. I really do, because for someone so young, so resilient, you've been through so much and that is certainly one crime not even Batman or Nightwing cannot stop."

She just looked at him, tears in her eyes. She was handed a tissue and she quickly wiped away the burgeoning tears. "You said something wrong." He looked at her, rather confused. "I would rather die than to see Bruce or Dick get really badly hurt, but I would hunt the person to hell and back if they laid a finger on you."

He nodded. "Thank you, for that correction Miss Cadence."

She shrugged and grinned as she heard movement upstairs. "Is Bruce the only one upstairs? I want to see him."

Alfred now had a poker face. "I can or cannot answer that question without repercussions, madam."

Hearing Dick needing a plate, she eyed Alfred as she skirted out to give him the plate. "I think someone else is in the house." Cadence told him mischievously.

"Why? Just leave Bruce in peace." Dick knew that she wouldn't listen anyway as she left to go up the staircase.

She first went to look at her room, which was the same as she left it; neat and tidy. She then went to the floor on the farthest corner of the room and saw her little piano. Playing the first six notes, a small trap door sprung open and she saw her assortment of spy gear that Dick had disposed of in the past, but still worked. Instead, she picked up a key and exited her room, making a beeline to the security camera room. Once inside, she put in her password and perused the west side of the house. A few boys were walking around, having a look at the old house, but the one camera she wanted to see was blacked out. Not by technology, but with black paint.

"Smart. I'll try a different tactic then." Logging out and locking the room back up, she made her way to the west side. Getting to where Bruce's hallway was, she slid along and came up to his room. Knocking, there was some talking before silence.

"Alfred, I said that there wasn't any need for a wakeup call." Bruce called, coming to the door. Opening it, he saw Cadence. "Cadence. I didn't know you were coming up for breakfast."

"No one did. I thought I heard you talking to someone." She tipped her head and saw no one. "Maybe I'm going crazy."

"Maybe." There was a beeping, coming from a Justice League earwig. It wasn't Bruce's; his was already in his ear. "Could you please go and entertain the boys? I'll be down shortly to take them out."

Cadence decided to drop it. "Fine." She turned on her foot and left.

Bruce shut the door and sighed. "For someone so young, she can be quite inquisitive." A woman came from the roof to the ground. "Is she one of your adoptive children?" Princess Diana of Themyscara was now back on top of the covers of the bed.

"No. Dick saved her from a life of crime. She was given a Wayne Foundation Scholarship and boarded at Gotham Academy." Bruce waited at the door for a moment. "They now live together." He turned around to see her still in her uniform. "You didn't have to stay."

"Why? You're my friend and I'm here for you. But… you might need to tell Dick."

Bruce shook his head. "Not yet."

She pursed her lips. "Bruce, this is serious. If you're really thinking about moving her and…"

"Thinking, Diana, nothing more."

"Well let me tell you this. I will support you and be here, but when Dick defects… don't wonder why." She stood up. "See you tonight."

}—{

Dick was sleeping, Cadence was ironing. It was a typical Sunday afternoon in the apartment. Hearing a delicate knock, she opened the door and saw Bruce standing rather sullenly in front of her.

"Are you here to see Dick?"

"No. I'm here to see you." he stepped in and saw the mound of laundry she was ironing. "If it's a bad time…"

"No, what's up?" She sat at the table.

Bruce sat down. "There was someone in the house, other than eight rowdy boys, you two, Alfred and myself. Wonder Woman was speaking to me."

"About?"

"Everything. Life. Yours. But there was a point to her visit. I was driven by anger, by hate and my need to clean up the city. Dick was driven by his parents' deaths also, but… I don't want his life consumed by this. By vigilantism. He has something so great with you, but if he's in a city where crime never sleeps, one day he mightn't ever come home." He took a breath. "This is for you both." He gave her a real estate packet. "Go. Please. I'd rather have Dick mad at me for this than you crying over a grave in the future."

The house was in Berkley, California. An hour away from Wally and Artemis. The nearest superheroes would either be Green Arrow or Flash. Low crime rate, high priced house, she took one look at it and knew that Dick would not like the idea.

"Why?" She knew he had just explained why, but to her, it wasn't good enough.

He stood up and looked out the window. "Death and morbidity and sadness. That is what surrounds this town. You need a new slate. You need to get out now."

"This is like when you sent me to LA. It didn't work."

"This will. There, your gentleman's gentleman will meet you. His name is William. He will have one of the cars there."

"Have you already decked the place out?"

"It's under 'summer holiday home' in my books." Bruce gave her the keys and plane tickets. "If Dick puts up a fight, tell him… tell him he doesn't have a choice. You fly out tomorrow. All your belongings will be there within 72 hours of you arriving." She looked as though she was about to cry. "I will send some friends but not until I know you're settled." He went to go take her hand and stopped. "Enjoy sunny California Cadence." He left her, crying, with something she knew would tear the Wayne family apart…

**Intense. I think? Hahah, review kidz! I'm baack! Please tell me what you think should happen. I have an idea of where I'm going, but I'm very willing to accomdate! :D**


	20. Unhappiness

**Holla! I don't own anything in this story other than Cadence :D enjoy! (and Artemis never went on that mission she's on ATM.) Cadence is 24, Dick is going on 25.**

_Welcome to 101.2 FM and to yet another sunny day in Berkeley, California! It's the twenty fifth of October and a breezy 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Here's the 5am news!_

Dick lay listening unhappily. Cadence was asleep, as any person who wanted to sleep would be. It had been a week since they moved to the bustling city of Berkeley. They had done renovating, changing a rather large open dining room space into a gym, putting a safe in the walk in wardrobe and making a tall bookshelf into a rotating gear closet, with all of Dick's hero belongings being hung up in there. The book that would rotate it, they decided together, was going to be 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. Dick finished that late last night, having to carry Cadence, who passed out on the sofa watching, to bed.

He didn't like it in this town. It was alien, unreal. He felt useless. Hearing Cadence mumble something, he snapped out of his daze and slid an arm under her, trying to comfort her back to sleep…

()()()

Driving into Palo Alto, it was clear that it was high end. What a place to 'retire'. Pulling up at the address, a blonde and a red head waited on a park bench.

"Cady!" Artemis jumped up and hugged her friend. "It's been way too long!"

"I know!" Cadence laughed, relieved to see a familiar face. "We have a lot to catch up on!"

Wally on the other hand stood up as Dick came over. "Dick." He held his hand out.

"Wally, how are you?" Dick decided to try and mask his unhappiness.

"Well, thanks. We're taking a year off from all the schooling we've had, so life's good. You?"

Dick gave a half-hearted shrug. "It's…" he couldn't exactly find a word, or words, to explain it.

Wally put a solemn hand on his shoulder. "We should talk."

()()()

Artemis and Cadence were making dinner, having fun and giggling as they did so. Wally and Dick, however, were having a serious conversation.

"I didn't want to leave." Dick confessed. "But… Cadence was crying. Bruce wasn't answering my calls, Alfred wouldn't speak to me… I just packed up with her and left because… he forced my hand."

"What about anyone from the League? From the Team? You were their leader."

"Conner is temporary until they can figure out what to do. Bruce threw them for a loop."

Wally shook his head. "I don't know man. It's complicated to say the least. Has… Cadence said anything?"

Dick nodded and thought about answering. "That she'd rather see me die of old age than of getting shot by a citizen of Gotham."

"Ouch." Wally rubbed the back of his head. "But true." He saw his best friend look up at him, confusedly. "Unless you have a death wish of some sort."

Dick chuckled. "No, I don't."

"Well that's fine. Sorry man, but I'm on Cadence's side for this one. I'd rather see who lasted longer on the opposite end of the age process." That made Dick smile.

"I'd win." Dick stood up from the desk chair.

"Would not." Wally sized him up and lost… by a considerable amount.

"Would too." They started walking out to the kitchen.

"I'm faster than you."

"Duh."

Wally thought that through. "Dude!" he laughed, realising what he meant. "That is not nice."

"I know." he laughed with him.

()()()()

Cadence was reading, already in bed as Dick slipped in beside her. "So?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the book.

"I am resigning myself to trying to like this city."

She leaned on his shoulder, smiling. "Good. I like the shopping here." Hearing him scoff, the answered again. "Good, because I now get to see you a lot more."

At this he sighed. It wasn't as if he wasn't happy with the arrangement. It was perfectly fine. But he wondered if he could stop fighting, after doing it for so long. It felt to him like it was built in, like something he couldn't turn off. But, to humour Bruce, to make this work, he was going to train harder than ever, work harder than ever and hopefully, one day, he can be given the right to walk with Batman once more.

"Well, that's great. I start work as soon as I can get a spot at Wayne Enterprises San…" Cadence looked at him, "I'm going to work at the Police Department. I'm going to the academy in Oakland." He smiled. "It will be something new."

She shook her head and put the book down. "Richard, sometimes I worry about you." she turned the light out.

"Yeah, sometimes I worry about me too."

()()()()

William was rather young, but he knew that he was going to be treated like family, like Alfred. He lived in the furthest upstairs room, away from Cadence and Dick. Every morning, at 5.30, he would get up, get ready for the day and go and make breakfast. After, he would go about whatever he needed to do and whatever Cadence or Dick asked him not to do.

But today, something disrupted that routine. A knock at the door. Opening it, he saw a tall teenager frowning at him.

"Welcome to the Grayson home, how can I help you today?" William asked politely.

"I'm here to see Nigh… Dick. Dick Grayson."

"Mr Grayson is still in the confines of his room." William didn't like the look of the boy.

"He usually is, with Cadence, I know."

If ever was there a time to use the brand new safety mechanisms of the house, he felt now was the time. Pressing what looked like a doorbell on the inside of the door, a scanner scanned him.

"B-4 Superboy." A voice said to William.

"Come in Conner." He let a rather impatient Conner in. "Sorry, I am not accustomed to your lifestyle as of yet." He led the younger man into the lounge room. "I will go and inform them of your presence."

William then walked down the hall to the door that was shut and locked. Knocking delicately, he heard murmurs, before a rough come in was called. He hesitantly opened the door and saw Cadence barely awake, trying to see who it was as she propped herself up against her pillows, while Dick was on his laptop.

"What's up William?"

"Conner Kent is here to see you." Dick jumped out of bed, obviously having been up for quite a while and rushed out. "Is there anything you need Cadence?"

She shook her head. "Sleep?" as she fell back into her pillows, William took that as his cue to leave.

()()()()

Coming to the lounge, he saw Conner staring at the blank, turned off TV.

"What's up?" Dick saw him look around at him.

By the look on his face, Conner did not have good news. "It's Tim. He's missing."

**Review lovelies! :D **


	21. Unfounded Revelations

**So, little brother missing and he can't suit up? Uh oh…**

After Conner left, Dick called Alfred, who explained how Tim said he was going to go Mount Justice and hours later, when he was meant to return, Alfred called Mal, who said Tim wasn't even on that day. Alfred then called the League, and in particular Batman, to raise the alarm of a missing child.

Now Dick was on the phone to Wally, who was trying his best to calm his best friend down. Cadence was calm about it all, talking to whoever was on Watchtower duty, which was Flash. After a few moments, she hung up and called someone else. After twenty minutes, both had finished talking to their respective friends and colleagues about news, which was scarce.

Dick was about to punch a hole through the wall, until he saw Cadence just as upset. "Where is he?" he asked thin air.

"He's smart, he's young and he lives with Bruce Wayne. Who knows?!"

After about ten minutes of silence and sighing, Cadence got a phone call. Taking it, she walked away from Dick, talking harshly to the person. He got up and tried to follow her, but she locked herself in the office, where the multiple computer screens were. Within a couple of minutes, she unlocked the door and let Dick in.

"What was that about?" he saw the screens showing a map of America, with green dots being JLA or team members, while others were miscellaneous bad guys and allies. Then there was an orange dot that was moving along towards Berkeley. "What's the orange dot?" Cadence was silent as she typed away a little more. "Cady?"

"It's Tim. He just called me."

Dick was not only relieved, but confused by this. "What?"

"Tim, your brother, Bruce's son. He just called me. He isn't missing, he never was, everyone just overreacted. If anyone smart, like me, actually decided to hack bus and plane records, you can see he caught a bus to New York and then decided to fly to San Francisco. We need to go pick him up in half an hour." She put an earwig in her ear and pressed a button. "Can I talk to Flash? On screen, the code is 4132."

After a small pop, the Flash came up on the screen. "What's so important? I was training."

"You don't need to train, you were eating and we both know that." She retorted.

"Touché."

"Tim has been found, but keep it on the DL til I can see why he has come to the lovely sunny skies of California."

"Roger that. Bats will probably call in later."

"Ok. Thanks." She turned the video off and turned to see Dick cross… sort of. "I wasn't joking. Airport ASAP."

()()()()

Now Dick was cross. He was sitting across from Tim, who was taking a sip out of a can of soft drink.

"Uh, so are you going to explain?"

"What? Why I'm here or how I got out of Gotham?" Tim looked up and saw Dick frowning at him. "I'm here because it sucks that you left. The team sucks, home sucks and even training sucks. I got out of Gotham by buying all my tickets online as Timothy Wayne, paying for them on my key card and… you should know the rest."

"Does that involve lying to Alfred and proceeding to disappear? Yeah, I know the rest Tim!" Dick slammed his fist on the coffee table separating them.

Tim was now looking like he had made the wrong choice in coming to his big brother. "Go make yourself something to eat." Cadence put a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. He stood up contemptuously and walked off. Sitting in the now vacant seat, Cadence looked at Tim with a small grin on her face. "Why did it all suck?"

"Dick knew what he wanted, when he wanted. He could lead, but not make a fool of himself. Our rotating leaders aren't the best, but I can't say anything. They're my friends. Home isn't the same. I can't just walk into the city and expect you to call me so I can have dinner at your place. Training isn't the same because I can beat almost everyone strategically. When I trained with Dick, I actually had to use my strength and head, but still get beaten." He moved a little restlessly in his seat. "Will I have to go back tonight?"

She shook her head. "Not until you feel ready. In the meantime, you do know it's a Sunday? Both Dick and I start work tomorrow." He nodded. "I'm pretty sure William can look after you though. Just… call earlier next time, ok?" he nodded again, still as sullen as before.

()()()()

Tim was sent home just over a week later with an angry Bruce and a grounding sentence. Dick was still fuming from the whole ordeal.

"The principle of this all is that he should have told someone." Dick said while he was in the shower.

"Richard, I get it. Stop repeating that or else I'll call you more than your actual name." Cadence was getting fed up with his continual whining about the matter, finishing her teeth brushing and exiting the bathroom.

He got out and dried himself before pulling on just a pair of boxer shorts. "I'm so scared." He jumped on the bed beside her.

"You should be."

"Why are you so defensive about it?"

Cadence looked at him. "This thirteen year old girl got saved from her house and taken somewhere where they helped her become a rather strong and resilient girl. She basically ran away. She hasn't seen her father for 12 years. She doesn't even know if he's alive. She doesn't even know if he looked for her. That's why I'm so defensive about it Dick." She stalked off out of the room, leaving Dick feeling a little sheepish…

()()()()

Dick got back from the academy early, and saw he needed to apologise to Cadence. He had basically torn her family, or what was left of it, away from her and shoved her into a society she had to learn to conform with. With William's help, he cooked a three course meal, picked some roses and got into a nice shirt and a pair of dress pants.

He was waiting as she got in the door. "Hi." He smiled.

She looked up, children's homework needing to be marked in her hands. "Hi to you too. What's going on?"

He took the books out of her hands and grabbed her bag and took them to the study before coming back. "Me prancing around in my uniform won't work anymore. I understand that now. So, I'm going to be very adult about it all." Taking her hand, he showed her to the dining room, where there were candles, and the first course and William, with a bottle of champagne, smiling a little as she entered the room. "This is my sorry to you."

Cadence turned to him and beamed brilliantly. "It looks beautiful."

After the third meal, which was chocolate ice cream and topping, both were generally talking about their days, until Dick stood up.

"Where are we going?" Cadence took his hand and followed him out to the backyard. The lights were on, showing all the pretty trees and flowers. He turned and smiled. "Dick?" She asked.

He then bent down on one knee. Cadence looked as though she was about to cry, either in shock or happiness. "Cadence. You're my damsel in distress, my fighter, my friend, my protector and my organiser. You were there when others weren't and when you were about to give up on me so many times you kept going in believing in me and…" Dick to a breath, looking up at her. "I was just wondering if you wanted to marry me?"

Cadence looked at him. She didn't know what to say and this scared both of them just a little.

**O.O REVIEW xo**


	22. Explanations

**Don't own a thing xo**

Cadence was lying in bed as the sun slowly and steadily rose. She couldn't see it herself, but the shadow from the curtains was giving her a nice outline of when she should get up.

Last night was a wild ride of emotions. There was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of thought and a lot of happiness after all of that. Lifting her left hand, she saw a beautiful diamond set in between two brilliant blue sapphires, the band silver sitting on her ring finger. She didn't even know where it came from, but it was beautiful.

The next debate she was thinking of was 'Wayne' style or 'Grayson' style. Wayne had prestige and would be massive, but Grayson was low key, family only. Deciding to let that one slide, she heard movement to her right. Rolling her head to that side, she saw the glorious figure of Richard Grayson, shirtless, just waking up. His hair was mussed and he had slight dark shadows from the late night before.

"Morning sleepy head." She murmured, rolling over so her head rested on his shoulder.

"Morning." He yawned, pecking her on the forehead affectionately. "Can we sleep in?"

"Yep. It's Saturday. Sleep in day." She knew she just wanted to stay within the confines of the house but Dick wouldn't want it that way. He was too set in his patterns. Up by nine, showered and fed by 10.30, drive to the nearest coffee shop, go for a walk down the street, pick up some small items along the way and head back for lunch.

But now, at 7.30am, they were content with just lying in bed.

()()()()

It had been three months since they had been to Happy Harbour, Gotham or even Metropolis. But today, Dick and Cady had decided that they needed Zeta Beam to Happy Harbour to see the Team. They deserved an explanation as to why Dick fell off the face of the earth. Getting there, Dick sighed at the Mountain. They didn't go directly into the Mountain, as they probably would come up with some hostile people wanting answers. Walking to the back entrance, Dick pressed on a hidden button that opened the door. Walking down the ramp, they saw Megan and Conner trying to see who it was.

"Cadence!" She screamed, rushing over in the air to hug Cadence, who readied herself for impact. Conner, who still wasn't happy with Dick, waited for Megan to switch before giving her a massive hug.

"I missed you." he murmured into her ear. Conner could never be angry with Cadence. She was that one person that at least tried to not understand what he's been through, but just be there. They were basically siblings.

"Same." She smiled. "I have something to show you." she pulled back and showed him the ring.

Conner looked at it, then at Dick, who was talking with Megan, then at Cadence. He saw the happiness in her eyes. "Finally!" he grinned, enveloping her in a bear hug again.

"I was a little surprised, to say the least."

"I'm pretty sure that was the idea." He walked into the mountain with her. "So is that why you're here?"

"I am just coming with. I'm not actually meant to be here." She looked pointedly at Dick, who was seeing where everyone was on the big screen with Mal's help. "I guess he feels bad. It wasn't his fault… but he feels…" she sighed a little.

"Like he needs to explain why he moved cross country?" Conner finished her sentence. "Yeah, some of them had been wondering that too. Artemis said you two just needed some time."

"He wanted to leave. Saw him with a go bag one day… almost scared me. He said it was for work though."

"A 'go bag'?"

"A pair of clothes, a pair of shoes, undies, ID, new phone, a weapon and a photo."

"A photo?"

"Of me."

Conner chuckled. Of course. What else would it have been? "Well he didn't leave, that's the main thing."

"Everyone! Can we go to the kitchen?" Dick called.

()()()()

It took hours. Cadence was sleeping by the end, as it was dark in Dick's old room in the Cave and his bed was rather comfortable. Dick came in and smiled, seeing her snuggled within the sheets. Everyone was ok with what happened. Except for Tim, who was still in denial. He'd come around eventually. Dick also told them that he and Cadence were engaged. That was then all the wolf whistling and jeering occurred. Resigning himself to finally leave, he now found himself walking along with his fiancé on his back, barely awake and aware of what was going on. After being given some hushed good byes, they found it would be easier to Zeta Tube back to Berkeley, which they did rather happily.

Cadence collapsed on the bed and watched as he bustled around the house. "What did they say?"

"Who?"

"The Team?"

"That they hated me and they never ever wanted to see me again and that you shouldn't marry me and that they won't come to the wedding." He joked. "No, no. They said they understood and that it was fine. I'd be called in under dire, I mean dire, circumstances. I was invited to Thanksgiving and Christmas with their favourite plus one. That we were sort of made for each other but I was really blind about it all. Oh, and yes, they are coming to the currently non-existent wedding."

She nodded. "We should get on that."

"It's been a couple of weeks. Let it be longer."

"I know, but dresses, placing, getting everyone there, making sure the wrong people don't know and the right do, we can't forget the tuxedos or the ceremony. Where the hell are we even going to get married?"

"In the back of the Batmobile?" he laughed. Turning, Dick saw a rather shocked Cadence ready to throw something at him. "Kidding!"

"You better be." She calmed down and smiled as he joined her on the bed. "Because I don't think you'd survive that night." she ruffled his hair, smiled evilly and walked into the bathroom, closing the door.

"What does that mean?" He called, not getting an answer. "Cadence? What does that mean?!"

**HAHA. There you go! Review with your ice cream flavours and any ideas for the wedding ;) **


	23. That One Moment and How Not to Parent

That One Moment/How Not to Parent

At seventeen, Cadence had quite enough to worry about: school, being a senior, completing driving lessons, important Wayne functions, where she functioned as a plus one and staying on top of her extracurricular activities. So when she had to stop doing her homework because Dick had returned back from a mission injured, Cady realised she was quite ticked off from the whole ordeal. Stalking the halls with a frown on her face, she was just about ready to yell at him when she saw him in the confines of his room, a drip going in his arm, butterfly stitches on his face, some grazes on his arms, she hated to see the rest of his body. Her anger quickly dissipated and was replaced with the need to cry.

"Don't freak out." His murmured roughly. He was having a hard time breathing. She trembled as she sat beside him on a chair and took his hand. "Please." Tears started leaking from her eyes. It had never been this bad. He was her best friend and it killed her to see him like this. It was that moment. That moment when she realised… she probably couldn't live without him. He was a little ray of sunshine when she was a little storm cloud. He knew that she ate pink marshmallows, but hated the white ones. He knew she had a secret hate for the colour dark green. He knew she loved walking to the Wayne Enterprise building because she could go to a little flower shop that sat on the corner across from the skyscraper and smell all the beautiful flowers. He was smart enough to disappear when she was in a mood, but would still stay with her until she fell asleep after a nightmare. She loved his smile and that he wanted to grow his hair out, that he's lived with so much but would rather give it to someone who needed it. That he cooks and takes cookies in to the kids who board in the mountain. That he lets her hold onto him for her dear life when they're watching horror movies. He was so much more than that but to her… he was the bee to her bumble and nothing was going to ever change that.

He had seemingly passed out after telling her not to freak out, but she sat there and held his hand that entire time. Alfred told the school they both had the flu and to mail the work they were missing. Every day she would leave to do both of their work, eat and come back. She really didn't want to go anywhere else. She had nowhere else to go. He was asleep mostly for an entire week. His breathing got better as it went on, but she was so worried something would go wrong. How it happened didn't matter to her. He was trying to save someone, that's all she heard of the twenty minute explanation from Bruce and Alfred. Every night she would fall asleep, their hands clasped together when Bruce would come in and carry her back to her room. Every morning, the cycle would start again. That was until she came in and saw Dick looking at her meekly.

"Dick!" she rushed to his bedside and smiled, so happy he had finally opened his eyes. "You've been out for ages! Every time you were awake, Alfred would feed you and then you'd pass out again. I doubt you would remember much of that. But… What?" his owlish eyes seemed confused.

He cocked his head a little to one side and frowned. "Who are you?" at this, her euphoria came crashing down and she looked as though she was about to cry, scream for help and faint at the same time. For a moment, she stood there in a paralytic shock of sorts until he cracked a smile. "Gotcha." He wheezed.

This wave of annoyance, but jubilation came over her and snapped her out of the shock. "I hate you!" was the first thing she said. Sitting beside him, she glared at him and said "I really do."

"Sure you do Cadence. I hate you too." He managed a half grin.

But the silly thing was, she knew she didn't hate him. Quite the opposite really. But… she couldn't tell him. Not now.

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**Presently**

Sitting at the table, she watched on as Dick piled food into his mouth, some white balsamic vinegar from the salad, or maybe saliva she couldn't tell, dripped down his mouth and onto his shirt.

"Dick!" She moaned. She was in an irritable mood and had been for a few days now. Nothing Dick did or said seemed to make it better.

He looked down and saw what he did before putting his knife and fork down gently and casually reaching over and taking her cutlery so she wouldn't throw it at him. "Sorry." He managed, getting a napkin and dabbing at his shirt, which wasn't doing much for the shirt or Cadence.

"We need a holiday or something." She sighed.

"Why?"

"Because we've been here for almost a year! I…" Dick realised there was an ulterior motive to her wanting to go on a holiday.

"What? What is it?" he got up and pulled her chair out to face him and he pulled her outside to the back deck. "Cadence?"

"I got an email today from Vivian Simmons today."

The name didn't register to him. "Who is Vivian Simmons?"

She looked at him. "My mother. She tracked me down after she came back from Europe and saw the photos in the paper. She left dad when I was…" she thought about it, "six, I think. Every year I'd get a birthday present and a Christmas present. Then I got rescued by you and… I haven't seen my mother in almost twenty years Dick." she leaned onto him and started to cry. He couldn't say anything without making it worse, so he just rubbed her back until she pulled back. "She emailed to say dad was in hospital and that he hasn't got long."

"Well let me make some calls. You go to bed." He walked with her to the door and let her go in. William came down, obviously worried.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, walking with Dick to the office.

"Parent issues, Will. Her mother emailed her. Hasn't seen her in almost twenty years…" he looked at William.

"That is a very long time." He pointed out to Dick, who nodded, looking through their diary of contacts. Leaving a message for the school to say that Cadence needed some personal time and calling whoever was on duty at the Academy and saying he also needed some time, he went with calling Alfred, who said he would have a car ready when they got there. The next call was to Wally.

"_Hello?" _

Hearing Artemis answer, Dick explained everything to her and ended with a "I was wondering if you two wanted to come over for a quick visit to the East Coast?"

Artemis immediately said yes and hung up… within two hours, they were at the front door, Wally given a catch up in the car as they drove along.

"We're here for both of you." He told Dick, shaking his hand.

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Gotham City General Hospital ran with funds donated every year by Bruce himself. So when an adopted son of Bruce's is rumoured to be coming with his fiancé and two friends, of course they try to neaten the place up a bit. When Cadence goes up to the front counter and asks for her father, Dick hears his name for the first time in eleven years.

"I'm looking for the room of Alistair Andrews? I'm his daughter Cadence."

Alistair was the man who did so little to look after, to love and keep his daughter safe. Dick felt anger for the man, but realised he really shouldn't judge someone who could have had a bad life. A messy divorce from Vivian could have led to alcoholism, which led to his inability to care for his beautiful daughter.

The nurse told her where to go and simply continued on with her work. Wally and Artemis decided to wait in the waiting room of the wing as Dick and Cady continued on to room 322 in the ICU.

"Just stay here." She told him, going into her father's room by herself.

()()()()

Just standing in the doorway, she saw her mother in the corner with two children and her father laying on the bed quietly, looking out the window.

"Cadence." Vivian stood up, the two children looking at her. "My baby." She smiled, going to hug her daughter. Cadence took a step back. The woman was basically alien to her. She didn't want to hug someone she didn't know. "I am so glad you got my email."

"Who are they?" she asked, looking back at the two staring kids. Both were teenagers, a boy and a girl.

"They're your half-siblings, Leo and Poppy." Vivian explained. Cadence didn't look much like her. She got her father's looks mostly.

"Why are they here?"

"Because they wanted to meet their big sister."

"I am _not _their big sister." She looked coldly at her mother. "Glad to see you didn't leave these two like you left me. You must have some heart somewhere then."

"Cadence…"

"Get out. Now." Vivian looked at her daughter with a contemptuous look before ushering the unimpressed Leo and Poppy out of the room, so that Alistair and Cadence could be alone.

Standing in front of his view, he slowly looked up, surprised to see her.

"I thought you were dead." He told her.

"Same."

"You just vanished… I thought I would never see you again."

"You never cared anyway Alistair, why start now? Do you regret leaving your daughter to fend for herself? For cleaning up after your drunken exploits every day? Do you regret hitting me for not doing what your drunk state wanted me to?"

"All of it." He croaked. "I wish I hadn't been a drunk. Now it's too late. I'm dying Cadence. It's why I wanted to see you. Your mother. I even wish Viola was still here. I miss her so much Cady. I missed you too." There were tears in his eyes. "I wish you and Viola and your mother and I were still together. But Viola's death just…"

Cadence cut him off, outraged. "Don't you dare blame Viola for your drunkenness or for your divorce!" she screamed at him. "She was my sister! I loved her so much! She was dead because you didn't watch!" she dropped to the floor, crying.

Dick burst on into the room to see Alistair looking at his daughter surprised and his beautiful Cadence on the floor. There was a lot more than goodbyes being done here and he knew it.

**So two chapters jammed into one because it's been forever. Sorry for the 'hold-the-phone' moment, I'll try get another up soonish… ice cream flavours and wedding ideas please and review your little hearts out! Much love! **


	24. Viola's Last Wish

Dick was sitting at a table with a puffy eyed Cadence, who had barely eaten, her second or third tea in her hand. Artemis was sitting beside her, a little subdued by the whole experience of a blabbering, crying Cadence. She had never seen such a normally strong girl break down.

Alistair, once his daughter had been removed, then told Dick about Viola. Viola Patience Andrews was Cadence's big sister who was killed in a tragic hit and run at age 9. Cadence was five. The next year, Alistair and Vivian broke off their marriage. Alistair was the one who was meant to be watching, but he was too busy trying to help a crying Cadence, who had cut her hand open on a piece of glass that was on the stairs. It was one moment that changed everyone's lives. Alistair blamed himself and lost himself in the bottle trying to figure out what to do with his self.

To finish, Alistair gave Dick his final photo of Viola, which was with Cadence. It was their first day at school, in Kinder and the fourth grade respectively. Both had pigtails on either side of their head, both wore Gotham North School uniforms and both looked completely different. Viola had a tan skin colour, large brown eyes and brown hair, unlike her little sister, who was pale, with blonde hair and blue/green eyes. "Please look after my baby Mr Grayson. I know I don't have any right to even be talking to her or even you but… thank you. Thank you for keeping her safe, even if it was from me."

Dick was instantly knocked from that memory as Cadence asked when they were leaving. Before he could answer, Vivian Simmons came over with Leo and Poppy.

"I wish for you to apologise to your half-siblings and to me for your outrageous behaviour, Cadence." She was basically asking Cadence to do the Macarena backwards while doing a headstand. It was doable, but not easy.

"No." It was quick, it was simple and it made Cadence stand up.

"I am your…"

Cadence cut her off. "If you say mother, I'll say yeah, for six years of my life and for the nine years of Viola's. Did you know her birthday was yesterday? That she would have been 29. Twenty years almost to the day did my big sister die and since then… I've gotten nothing but pain from you and dad. I'm so glad I have Dick because I know he will be a dad unlike my father and I'm so glad that when I met you again today… I promised myself I would never be like you and leave my kid behind." She went to walk off, stopped and turned. "You might blame dad for Viola's death… But he wasn't the one who told her to go get Dr Masters." With that she stormed off, leaving Dick, Wally and Artemis to walk after her. Considering they could Zeta beam to San Francisco, they decided to head to Bruce's for the night.

Wally and Artemis took Dick's room, while Cadence and Dick took her old room. After some more tears, it was Dick who decided to talk to her.

"Viola seemed like a cool kid." He felt a nod on his arm, which was where Cadence had taken residence for the time being. "I'm sorry about her."

Cadence turned to face him, her face still red. "Don't be sorry. She has shaped me into me. When she was younger, on her birthday, even though I was four, I can remember her saying to me that when she wished upon a star, a birthday cake, anything, she wished for a little sister. Now that she had one, she wished that when we were older, we would be famous and rich and have handsome princes that will sweep us off our feet, like Cinderella, but without the shoe going missing or the ugly step sisters." She sighed. "Pretty sure that was her last wish. I hope she's glad because…" she had a funny look on her face, "I do have this handsome prince who swept me off my feet. Who cares about rich and famous when you have that?" she gave a watery chuckle.

"Not me." Dick held her close again and smiled, knowing that Viola's last wish was something special, because it came true.

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Cadence was at the hospital again. Alistair was refusing to eat, take medication or talk to anyone, wanting his daughter. Wally and Artemis were at Happy Harbour, so it was just her and Dick.

Getting back to room 322, Dick came to the bedside and stopped Alistair from looking out the window, forcing him to look up at Cadence.

"Darling, I don't want to do this anymore." He told her. "I want to go; I want to be with your sister. I want to watch over you."

"Alistair, you can hang on. Don't be stupid." Cadence was torn between being angry and being sad. It was her dad. He did try, when he was sober, but it was his drinking that put him here.

"Cadence Bryony Andrews. You're one hell of a girl. More than your mother or I could ever teach you. I know Viola's wish came true but I hope your own wishes came true too. That you can live happily and quietly and that this man here," he looked pointedly at Dick, "can give you whatever you're looking for. But now is my time to go. I want you to wait with me."

The tears that followed weren't of anger, but of realisation. Her daddy was going die. She nodded, took his hand and sighed, knowing unlike Dick, Alistair won't wake up.

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It was four days before Alistair expired. Every morning she would walk in with a smile and read to him and watch TV. By the third day he was in a coma. He must have known it was coming up. At the end of the third night, Dick had to carry her out of the hospital sleeping at two am, scared she would miss something. It wasn't until mid-afternoon, with his daughter watching some cartoon, that Alistair finally drifted off. Cadence couldn't cry anymore, so she just sniffled, occasionally just sighing.

By the next day they were back in Berkeley, Artemis and Wally back in Paolo Alto as they couldn't take any more time off until Christmas. Artemis decided, with Dick's approval, to start planning the wedding. It was going to be Grayson style, which was the one thing Cadence decided from the get go.

With it being a winter wedding, they're heading to San Francisco to get married, where it was a little warmer. Wally had it in his head they were heading to strip clubs for the bucks party (it was shot down by equally unimpressed women Artemis and Cadence) and the Justice League were having to sort out what was going to happen with the Watchtower schedule.

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**December**

Once the bucks and hens parties were organised (an ice hockey game was planned for the boys, much to Wally's disbelief) and the wedding invitation list was sorted and everything else was basically ready. Dick hasn't seen the dress, nor did Artemis take the chance of having him peeking as she kept it under guard at her house. After months of planning did the night before arrive, with Dick being taken away by Conner, Wally, Clark, Barry and Bruce to locations unknown, worrying Cadence just a little.

Staying at the house with Cady was Artemis, Raquel, Megan, Dinah and Diana, all of which had different functions at the wedding. The first three were Maid of Honour and bridesmaids, Dinah was the 'mother' of the bride and Diana was reception coordinator.

It was ten o'clock; everyone was asleep, except for Cadence who lay in her rather empty bed looking at her phone. When it lit up she snatched it up and answered it.

"Hello?"

"_You ok?" _Dick's hushed voice made Cadence's heart ache. She guessed absence did make the heart grow fonder. Maybe she was just really nervous and just needed her rock with her.

"Yeah. The girls were very adamant that I not see you, but they didn't say much about speaking to you."

She could hear some sigh of relief. _"Good. I'm glad the girls are keeping you happy. Just remember that we have a date tomorrow." _She nodded. _"Good."_

She looked up at her phone and saw he was video calling her. "Hello." She grinned.

"_I was wondering how long my anatomy lesson was going to last."_

"Sorry."

"_It's fine." _He paused and tipped his head sideways. _"You know… tomorrow Viola's last wish will come true?" _she nodded. _"Well, as long as you know that and that I love you; I'm going to go before…" _

There was a scuffle, some voices, Dick getting dragged away from his bed and then Conner's face looking at the screen. _"Hey Cady. We have a strict rule about your future husband seeing your pretty face until tomorrow. Night." _the feed cut out and she couldn't help but giggle.

Tomorrow was going to be a good day. No matter what. 

**The Wedding :D oh how exciting! I'm not that big on reviews, but would love some, even if it's a smiley face or something haha thanks! **


	25. Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not Ever

**I don't own X-Box, the cars and any other thing mentioned (including the dress). I do have some owning properties of Cadence Bryony Grayson though. **

Sitting between Artemis and Raquel, who were bustling with excitement, Cadence couldn't help but smile. Today was the day. The dress was on their laps and they were making good time. It was make up first, then putting the dress on and then waiting. Having no idea what the boys were doing, she was sort of glad she didn't have to worry about Dick doing something stupid the night before or the day of… and then she remembered Wally was with him. Pushing that out of her mind, she realised they had pulled up at the salon that was doing their make-up and hair and got out, knowing that today had to be a good day.

()()()()

Dick was up at five. It was partly because he couldn't sleep, but it was mostly because his internal clock was still stuck on his hero timetable. His hair was everywhere, he hadn't cut it in months and some form of a mullet was appearing. Walking around the apartment, which belonged to Bruce, he heard the TV going. It was Wally, on his X-Box that he brought, with Bruce in a chair reading something on his laptop. After a few hours, Barry and Clark joined them and they had breakfast before all walking down to a coffee shop, where they all got a coffee, the speedsters got more food and they were back up at the apartment.

()()()()

The Church was huge in comparison to the amount of people there. Cadence couldn't decide who she wanted to give her away, so both Conner and Bruce were going to walk her down the aisle, as they were basically her father and brother. Tim had finally arrived, along with the rest of the team, with Red Tornado keeping the Mountain under guard while they were gone. They were all in dresses and suits and were each getting a final look over by Dinah before everyone else came. Cadence was ushered out the back, with Conner and Bruce. Her dress was simple enough, with it being a floor length, made from chiffon and charmeuse, with a V neck line and capped shoulder straps. The back had a corset-like back that was pulled not to tightly around her. Hearing music, she began to walk around, a little unsteady on her feet, with Conner on her left and Bruce on her right. Her hair, which was shoulder length at the moment, was braided on one side and finished in a bun at the base of her neck.

Coming to the door, she sighed and looked at Bruce. He was legitimately smiling. It wasn't a dazzling smile, but a small, tight lipped one. His son was getting married to the girl he boarded for all those years. He could basically clam matchmaking rights. Taking a step in, everyone stood up and turned, in awe of Cadence. As she walked down the aisle, she noticed Dick couldn't see her of yet, as he was too busy tugging at the cuff of his suit sleeve. Once he finally looked up, he was in shock. She looked beautiful. She didn't know it, but he did. As she came up to where Dick, Wally and now Conner were standing, she turned to face Bruce, who let a small sigh of content be heard.

"Good luck." He gave her a light kiss on the forehead and sat beside Clark and Lois.

As the spectacle continued, there were many words said by the priest, which made Cadence almost forget that she had to say her vows. Dick though, had to go first. He cleared his throat and looked at her with a cheeky grin before beginning.

"After many years of knowing you, laughing with you, crying with you, being at your bedside and complaining about anything and everything, I've figured out a few things about you.  
Your first name means rhythm and its Latin, just like your sister's name.  
You love ice cream and if you could you would worship it.  
If there was anything that I did to annoy you, number one would be not putting my dirty clothes in the hamper.  
You love teaching because the children represent what I and everyone else has aimed to do; keep the world safe for the new generation.  
There are so many more I don't yet know and some more that I do, but it would be a list too long to tell. I promise to cherish you, to love you, to keep you safe and to always be there. If there was anything I couldn't do, I'd find a way. If you ever feel lost, know I will find you because… I love you, Cadence."

It was then Cadence's turn. She knew what she was going to say. There was a poem, but she decided to cut it out. Now she just had her vow. The end.

"Richard John Grayson. Last night I thought it would have been a tad daunting being in a house with only the girls. But then I realised that you were always with me, even if the boys tried to separate us. You were in my heart. I carry you with me wherever I go and it seems to separate the stars, like the poem in the 12th grade said.  
I believe we have been through so much that I doubt we could not have been in other people's lives. We were made for each other, like you and that costume and me and teaching. I used to say you were the bee to my bumble, because I was always getting hurt in some way, though you were the busy one.  
But we're past all that and now we're here, in front of all these people. This is my vow to you.  
Not today, not tomorrow, not ever will I let someone take you away from me. Maybe they try with all they can and with all their will, but I hope they know that no matter what, I will be there to stop them. It's because I love you, Dick. I love every part of you, no matter the pain you bring, the happiness you sing, just know I love you. Forever."

The priest knew that they were done and smiled, knowing that the most important part was yet to come…

()()()()

The kiss was unbelievable. Like, Cadence and Dick had kissed before, but… it was a special one. They signed their certificate, with Bruce and Diana Prince being the witnesses. After the clapping and the cheering, they walked out to the car and hopped in. It was a classic and was beautiful, with the tell-tale 'V' pink and red ribbons intertwined on the front of the car. Getting in she looked at her husband.

"We did it." She gave a watery laugh. "Dick we did it."

"I know, I know." Was all he could say, so happy he couldn't speak. He gave her a bear hug as the car drove off to the reception. It was in Fort Mason, with views of the ocean.

Once they got there, photos were to be taken. Some with just Dick and Cadence, then with all the boys, then all the girls, an altogether photo and then some others, like Conner and Cadence, Artemis and Cadence, Wally and Dick, Bruce and Dick, Bruce, Tim and Dick and so on. That took an hour or two before the reception started.

Their first dance was to (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, by Bryan Adams. Her head rested on his shoulder and she couldn't help but smile when he said "I hope you're enjoying the night, Mrs Grayson." She nodded, still on his shoulder. She was probably rubbing make-up all over his tux, but neither of them could care less.

After their dance, they sat up at a table, with Artemis to Cadence's left and Wally to the right. Wally, who of course was the Best Man, hopped up to do his speech.

"Well, look at all these good lookin' people tonight!"

"Who said you were?" Bart called out, causing some giggles.

"Pipe down half pint!" Wally called back. "Anyway, we're here today to welcome this rather accident prone couple. They met when Cadence got her hand caught in a car door; she then sliced her hand open whilst making lunches, Dick then got a nasty crush injury at seventeen, leaving Cadence at wits end… the list goes on. My personal favourite was Cadence with two broken legs, as Dick _had _to look after the poor girl in a wheelchair, which was chaotic nonetheless. But somehow, within all that chaos, they saw each other. I know it's been hard for Dick to be in Berkeley, away from his beloved Gotham, his beloved Happy Harbour and everything between, but he did it so his now beautiful wife can get a life away from it all. Now that I have gotten past all of that, I have some interesting things to tell you about both parties, a video, then the maestro will get the party going!"

Everyone clapped as Artemis hopped up.

"Dick, did you know? by Cadence. Did you know you mumbled in your sleep? It's pretty cute, especially when you think you're at the Mountain with the boys. You guys must really have nothing more to talk about than the girls you work with and what their bikini bodies look like." Giggles came from everywhere. "Did you also know that at least once a week you try on your uniform to make sure it still fits. Why? Because I'm the one that has to iron it afterwards. Also, you might say you keep to your diet, but I don't eat those chocolate biscuits that I buy every week and William doesn't eat chocolate. Also, when I pass out on the bed on a Saturday, I don't appreciate waking up to a million selfies taken on my phone. A few nights ago your hair got in my face. When I blew it off, you hit me because you were under the belief you were being attacked. Not that I would know, but I swear, child birth doesn't compare to your arm!"

There were still titters in the crowd when Conner stood up.

"A little more about you, by Dick. I'm pretty sure you could be ballerina, the way you dance around when you don't think I can see you, or that you could be a rock star, with the songs you belt out in the shower, when you think I'm having breakfast. Also, the amount of ice cream you go through is quite alarming, but I bet you didn't realise I hid your last bucket. When you cry, you go out to the garden, behind a row of hedges. It's no wonder I could never find you for weeks on end. When you sleep, your hair that smells like flowers sometimes makes me sneeze. I know all your food hiding spots and that you call each member of the team once every two weeks. I know you call Barry once a week and Alfred sometimes calls you twice a day. But, this is my favourite. Every morning when you leave for work, you trip down the same stair you trip up when you come home in the afternoon. The camera caught it."

The video showed exactly that, Cadence unbalancing on the way down and almost going face first on the way up the staircase.

It was sweet, airing their dirty laundry to everyone, but next was the video. It was mainly of sweet moments caught over the years. It was obvious Watchtower and Mount Justice security footage was used throughout. It included Flash watching on as they made out in an empty galley, Cadence getting the upside to a play battle on the practice floor, and when she pinned him, she was then rolled and put onto her back. So many memories. Some beautiful, some from the spur of the moment, all of them theirs.

By the end, Cadence was passed out behind the tables, Dick's jacket draped over her and her head on someone else's jacket. Everyone who was a guest left and immediate family stayed, as Bruce, Tim, Conner and Diana were all staying at the house and Wally and Artemis were taking Roy, Barry and Bart back to Paolo Alto. Wally joked that Cadence should call to check all the boys were alive in the morning. Dick lifted his new bride up and took her to the car that was waiting for them, which was a Ford Explorer. It was black, looked pretty fancy and very new.

"This is my wedding present to you." Bruce told them. Tim was on his shoulder, looking a little disorientated as to what was going on. To put it clearly, he was drinking under age and was now trying to prove otherwise.

"Looks nice. Why are there DVD videos in the head rests?" Dick looked at his father figure, who didn't answer and put Tim in the car. Diana then slid in and Cadence was placed gently beside her. Conner carefully made his way out with numerous amounts of pretty coloured boxes and put them in the boot before climbing in beside them. Bruce then threw the keys at Dick and made his way to the passenger seat. "Bruce Wayne riding shotgun for the first time in never." He gave a little head wiggle before getting into the car, ready to start his new life with everyone around him… including his wife.


End file.
